Genomic Approaches to the Study of Sea Urchin Development

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Cameron9982875The developmental program of an organism is encoded in the genome along with the end-product proteins of the differentiated cell types that make up the organism. The highly automated procedures of molecular biology permit one to ask questions of a more global nature instead of focusing on individual gene products and activities. In this project, a novel approach to the investigation of sea urchin development is made possible by the advances that ensue from the sea urchin genome project. There are now at hand research materials that include a genomic sequence data base; the complete genomic sequence for the entire Hox gene complex; and a broad set of embryonic, larval and adult cDNA libraries. With these resources,Dr. Cameron will begin to analyze at a genomic scale the genetic regulatory network of development. Dr. Cameron proposes to analyze the general genomic organization of the Hox cluster, a highly conserved group of genes that are involved in patterning structures along the body axis of bilateral animals. Dr. Cameron will use sea urchin embryonic gene transfer techniques to study the way that the expression of Hox genes are expressed in embryos. Dr. Cameron will compare the genes expressed in the embryo with those expressed in the larvae, including those of the rudiment of the adult body which develops in the larva. Lastly Dr. Cameron will automate the techniques of whole mount in situ hybridization to mRNA in order to classify all the different expression patterns that comprise embryonic development.