Workshop: Comparative Functional Genomics: A Short Course, Salisbury Cove, Maine, August 27 to September 9, 2000

生物科学正在进入一个令人兴奋的新时代：能够测量生物体中所有基因的基因表达模式。 这种方法被称为功能基因组学，它旨在确定有趣的基因表达模式：影响生物体如何形成，如何应对环境挑战以及如何适应的模式。 该领域的主要进展之一是使用微阵列同时测量数千个基因的表达。 微阵列是将数千个微格式的DNA样本打印在一个小的载玻片上。 每个DNA斑点代表一个独特的基因，用于测量基因表达。 研究基因表达模式只是第一步。 还需要进一步的研究来确定基因表达的变化如何引起生理、形态或其他表型变化。 如果我们试图理解基因表达模式如何影响生物学的功能重要性，更有效的方法之一是遵循August Krogh的原则（Krogh 1929）：对于许多问题，将有一种动物可以最方便地进行研究。 因此，功能基因组学将通过检查生物体的多样性而得到加强，在这些生物体中，生理、发育或生物化学特性很容易被研究。不幸的是，许多生物学家认为功能基因组学方法超出了他们的能力范围：他们获得必要的分子工具的能力（例如，组织中表达的全部或大部分cDNA）或获得这些工具的资金。 这与事实相差甚远，这也是开设比较功能基因组学短期课程的原因。 本课程的参与者将产生1000个测序和鉴定的cDNA，许多这些cDNA的微阵列和基因表达的简单分析。 虽然这不是一个完整的微阵列，但它确实代表了功能基因组学基本工具之一的完成迈出了一大步：许多表达基因的生产，打印和分析。 本课程最重要的属性是，它将提供有关如何从任何生物体简单和廉价地生产功能基因组学所需的分子工具的知识。 比较功能基因组学课程的这些目标将加速非模式物种中功能基因组学的利用，从而增强我们对基因表达变化如何影响生物过程的理解。

Biological sciences are entering an exciting new era: the ability to measure patterns of gene expression for all the genes in an organism. This approach is known as functional genomics, and it seeks identifying interesting patterns of gene expression: patterns that influence how an organism is formed, how it deals with environmental challenges, and how it adapts. One of the major advances in this field is the use of MICROARRAYS to measure the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. Microarrays are thousands of micro-formatted DNA samples printed on a small glass slide. Each DNA spot represents a unique gene that is used to measure gene expression. Examining the patterns of gene expression is just the first step. Additional research will be required to determine how changes in gene expression cause physiological, morphological or other phenotypic change. If we are seeking to understand the functional importance of how patterns of gene expression affects the biology of organisms, one of the more productive approaches is to follow August Krogh's principle (Krogh 1929): for many problems there will be an animal for which it can be most conveniently studied. Thus, functional genomics will be enhanced by examining a diversity of organisms in which physiological, developmental or biochemical traits are readily studied. Unfortunately, many biologists believe that a functional genomics approach is beyond their reach: their ability to acquire the necessary molecular tools (e.g., all or most cDNAs expressed in a tissue) or the funding to acquire these tools. This is far from the truth and is the reason for a short course on Comparative Functional Genomics. Participants in this course will produce 1000s of sequenced and identified cDNAs, microarray of many of these cDNAs and a simple analysis of gene expression. Although this is not a completed microarray for their organism, it does represent a large step toward the completion of one of the fundamental tools for functional genomics: the production, printing, and analysis of many expressed genes. The most important attribute of this course is that it will provide the knowledge on how to produce the necessary molecular tools for functional genomics from any organism simply and inexpensively. These objectives of the Comparative Functional Genomic course will accelerate the utilization of functional genomics among non-model species and thus enhance our understanding of how the variation in gene expression affects biological processes.