The Cnidarian Genetic Toolkit

越来越清楚的是，要了解生物体如何与环境相互作用，需要对组成生物体的基因以及这些基因在各种条件下的表达模式进行完整的计算。水母门的成员(水母、珊瑚、海葵和海蛇)是它们所处环境的关键成员，但人们对它们的遗传构成知之甚少。为了解决这个问题，将产生一组克隆的DNA，代表两个研究得很好的线虫的信使RNA群体(CDNA)。将使用的两种生物是淡水刺蛇和殖民地海洋刺蛇。含有克隆的cDNA的细菌将被机器人排列，以生成克隆的档案。序列数据将从来自每个生物体的大约50,000个cDNA克隆中获得。由此产生的序列数据将使用生物信息学计算工具以各种方式进行分析。这些分析将提供关于线虫中存在哪些基因的信息，以及这些基因在进化上如何与比线虫等线虫更新分化的动物的基因在进化上相关。这些信息对于定义多细胞动物进化的过程将非常有价值。从两种模式线虫克隆的cDNA集的获得也将使利用DNA阵列分析技术检测这些生物中大量基因的表达成为可能。特别是，将有可能确定当生物体处于反映环境应激时期(例如，高温)期间存在的条件时，其表达变化的基因。在实验室中，在压力条件下表达水平发生变化的基因可能是监测自然环境中线虫(例如珊瑚)健康状况的有用工具。

0120591BodeIt is becoming increasingly clear that understanding how an organism interacts with its environment will require a complete accounting of the genes which make up the organism and the expression patterns of the genes under various conditions. Members of the phylum Cnidaria (jellyfish, corals, sea anemones, and hydras) are key members of their environments, yet very little is known about their genetic makeup. To address this problem, a collection of cloned DNAs representing the messenger RNA populations (cDNAs) of two well-studied cnidarians will be generated. The two organisms that will be used are the freshwater cnidarian Hydra and the colonial marine cnidarian Podocoryne. Bacteria containing the cloned cDNAs will be robotically arrayed to generate archives of the clones. Sequence data will be obtained from approximately 50,000 of the cDNA clones from each organism. The resulting sequence data will be analyzed in various ways using bioinformatic computing tools. The analyses will provide information on what genes are present in cnidarians and how those genes are evolutionarily related to those in animals which diverged more recently than cnidarians, such as vertebrates and insects. Such information will be very valuable for defining the processes by which multicellular animals have evolved. The availability of cloned cDNA sets from two model cnidarians will also make it possible to examine the expression of large numbers of genes in these organisms using the technique of DNA array analysis. In particular it will be possible to identify genes whose expression changes when the organisms are placed under conditions which reflect those present during periods of environmental stress (e.g. elevated temperature). Genes whose expression levels change under stress conditions in the laboratory may be useful tools for monitoring the health of cnidarians (e.g. corals) in their natural setting.