Systematic analysis of expression and function of developmental genes of model organisms towards computer simulation

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1) We obtained 130,000 ESTs of the nematode C.elegans, from which we identified the gene structures of 14,000 unique cDNAs. We performed whole mount in situ hybridization with the unique cDNA set. All the information together with the description of RNAi phenotypes of 900 genes was stored and opened at our WWW-based database "NEXTDB" <http://nematode.lab.nig.ac.jp>. We have performed many collaborations based on the data in the database.2) We studied on the translational control mechanism of maternal mRNAs, finding the combinatorial regulation of the translation of glp-1 mRNA by gld-1, pos-1 and spn-4 gene products and the fine tuning by poly-A length.3) We performed EST/genome analysis of another nematode Diploscapter sp., which has a different cell cleavage and arrangement pattern until gastrulation stage. We are interested to compare gene expression and function between these different developmental systems. From 70,000 cDNA clones, 10,000 EST clusters were identified, of which 5,800 clusters had homologs to C.elegans. We also performed a low coverage (1X) whole-genome shotgun sequencing of this worm and found additional 1,000 homologs. All the results were also incorporated to NEXTDB.4) Cellular arrangements are important for cell-fate determination in development. We constructed a physical model for C.elegans embryo up to gastrulation stage (28 cell stage) using deformable and dividable polyhedrons. We further implemented microtubles and centrosomes, and we performed computer simulation analysis to get the parameters that reproduced the phenotype of wild type and mutant embryos.5) Based on the reaction-diffusion model, a mechanism for autonomous pattern formation in the animal skin has been elucidated.