Developing methodologies for developmental genetics of an appendicularian, Oikopleura dioica.

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A planktonic tunicate, Oikopleura dioica, is a candidate model organism to understand mechanisms of chordate development. It has the short life cycle of only five days and consists of small number of cells. In this study, I aimed to establish molecular and genetic approaches using this simple chordate. First, I tried transposon-mediated transgenesis of O. dioica. My analyses identified three transposons of which exogenous transposase mRNAs are translated to proteins and localize to the nucleus of early embryos. Second, I cloned several cDNAs from Japanese O. dioica. They include testis-specific histones and homologues of proteins that regulate cell polarizing and axis formation in other model organisms. Furthermore, to characterize all mRNA transcripts in unfertilized eggs and larvae, RNA seq analysis was performed. Third, inbreeding over 10 generations was carried out to establish inbred line.