EAGER: Collaborative Research: Methods for the continuous lab culture and transgenesis of the amphioxus Branchiostoma floridae

EAGER：合作研究：佛罗里达文昌鱼的连续实验室培养和转基因方法

• 批准号: 1160733
• 负责人: Daniel Medeiros
• 金额: $ 15.56万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-01 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1160733&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Collaborative; Research; Methods; continuous

During development, a single cell divides and differentiates to become a complete multicellular organism. Understanding normal development is essential to understanding both developmental defects and cancers, in which developmental programs have been reactivated resulting in uncontrolled growth and metastasis. Amphioxus (Branchiostoma floridae) is proving an excellent model for development as it is closely related to vertebrates but much simpler both structurally and genomically. The amphioxus genome is fully sequenced and there are extensive libraries of clones of genes expressed in development. Thus, identifying developmental genes and gene networks is proving to be easier in amphioxus than in vertebrate model organisms. Despite these advantages, amphioxus is not widely studied because embryos have only been available during a limited breeding season. The present study builds upon recent breakthroughs in amphioxus husbandry to establish protocols for the continuous culture of amphioxus in the laboratory as well as methods for genetically manipulating amphioxus to determine gene functions. Successful laboratory culture of amphioxus will allow genetic lines of amphioxus to be established, as has been done for such vertebrate models as the mouse and zebrafish, but at lower cost. Thus, the project will open up new avenues for rapidly and economically solving basic developmental processes. All methods and resources developed will be made publically available. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings. The work will also provide unique educational opportunities for a graduate student, two undergraduates, and 1-2 high school students per year. Finally, the project will strengthen international collaborations between research laboratories in the U.S. and Taiwan, establish a new web resource for the developmental biology community, and be incorporated into educational outreach activities through the Birch Aquarium in San Diego and the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Information about the project will be accessible via http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/facultysites/medeiros/Home.html.

在发育过程中，单个细胞分裂和分化成为一个完整的多细胞生物。理解正常发育对于理解发育缺陷和癌症都是至关重要的，在癌症中，发育程序被重新激活，导致不受控制的生长和转移。 文昌鱼（Branchiostoma floridae）被证明是一个很好的发展模式，因为它是密切相关的脊椎动物，但更简单的结构和基因组。文昌鱼的基因组已经完全测序，并且有大量的发育过程中表达的基因克隆库。因此，在文昌鱼中识别发育基因和基因网络被证明比在脊椎动物模式生物中更容易。 尽管有这些优势，文昌鱼并没有被广泛研究，因为胚胎只在有限的繁殖季节可用。本研究建立在文昌鱼养殖的最新突破，在实验室中建立文昌鱼的连续培养协议，以及遗传操作文昌鱼，以确定基因功能的方法。成功的实验室文昌鱼培养将允许建立文昌鱼的遗传系，就像在小鼠和斑马鱼等脊椎动物模型中所做的那样，但成本较低。因此，该项目将为迅速和经济地解决基本发展进程开辟新的途径。所开发的所有方法和资源都将以电子方式提供。研究结果将发表在同行评审的期刊上，并在科学会议上发表。这项工作还将为一名研究生，两名本科生和1-2名高中生每年提供独特的教育机会。 最后，该项目将加强美国和台湾研究实验室之间的国际合作，为发育生物学社区建立一个新的网络资源，并通过圣地亚哥的桦树水族馆和科罗拉多大学自然历史博物馆纳入教育推广活动。有关该项目的信息可通过http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/facultysites/medeiros/Home.html查阅。