Construction of a HAPPY map for the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon Pisum

在过去的十年里，许多活着的有机体的基因组序列(DNA/遗传物质中的所有核苷酸)的获得极大地促进了我们对它们功能的了解。因此，我们现在有了某些哺乳动物(包括人类)、鸟类、鱼类、昆虫、植物和许多微生物的基因组序列。对于昆虫来说，第一个完整的基因组序列是针对果蝇的，果蝇是一种高度研究的模式物种，该序列位于一个非常用户友好的基于网络的数据库‘Fly Base’中，整个研究界都可以获得该序列，从而允许许多不同的用途。从那时起，许多其他昆虫基因组已经出现，这使得对昆虫如何多样化和进化的比较研究成为可能。现在有一个项目正在进行中，对绿蝇或蚜虫的基因组进行排序，这将把研究扩展到一种有着非常不同的生活史(没有蛹阶段)和具有非常有趣的行为的昆虫物种。在理想的情况下，测序将产生有机体的完整基因“文本”，从一条染色体到另一条染色体，没有缝隙。在现实中，这是永远不可能的。即使是最全面的测序项目也会产生一个零碎的序列，就像一组未装订(和未编号)的文本页面。就像一本书的每一页都必须是有序的，而且必然是最有用的一样，计算出基因组中这些序列片段(称为重叠群)的正确顺序也很重要。一旦这样做了，分析基因组序列、填补任何缺失的序列片段、评估其内容以及搜索特定特征变得更加容易。弄清楚序列重叠群的顺序需要一张基因组图。这种图谱的工作原理很像一本书的索引：它告诉人们某些关键词(或基因序列的某些片段)在整本书中的位置。绘制基因组图谱的方法有很多，但最通用、最准确的方法之一就是快乐图谱。这项提议寻求建立一个快乐的地图，并与世界各地正在进行的其他项目一起，最终为研究界产生一个数据的“AphidBase”。尽管目前正在进行的基因组序列将来自一种特定的蚜虫物种，但预计所获得的信息将与其他蚜虫非常相关，包括许多是农作物的重要害虫，造成直接取食损害和传播植物病毒疾病。因此，它将提供有关蚜虫如何对杀虫剂产生抗药性、如何设计新的杀虫剂以及潜在的不需要化学处理的新防治策略的重要信息。

During the last decade our understanding of the functioning of many living organisms has been greatly facilitated by the availability of their genome sequences (all nucleotides in their DNA/heredity material). Thus we now have genome sequences for certain mammals (including humans), birds, fish, insects, plants and many micro-organisms. For insects the first full genome sequence was for the fruit fly, a highly studied model species, and the sequence, in a very user-friendly web-based database 'Fly Base', is available to the whole research community allowing many diverse uses. Since then many other insect genomes have become available allowing comparative studies of how insects have diversified and evolved. There is now a project underway to sequence the genome of a greenfly or aphid and this will extend studies to an insect species with a very different life-history (no pupal stage) and with very interesting behaviours. In an ideal world, sequencing would produce the complete genetic 'text' of the organism, spanning each chromosome from end to end without gaps. In reality, this is never possible. Even the most comprehensive sequencing projects produce a sequence which is fragmentary, like a collection of unbound (and un-numbered) pages of text. Just as the pages of a book must be ordered and bound to be of greatest use, it is important to work out the correct order of these sequence fragments (known as 'contigs') in the genome. Once this is done, it becomes much easier to analyse the genome sequence, fill in any missing pieces of sequence, evaluate its content, and search for particular features. Working out the order of the sequence contigs requires a genome map. Such a map works rather like the index of a book: it tells one where certain key words (or certain fragments of the genetic sequence) lie within the book as a whole. There are many ways to make genome maps, but one of the most versatile and accurate approaches is known as HAPPY mapping. This proposal seeks to build a HAPPY map and, in conjunction with other projects going on around the world, to eventually produce an 'AphidBase' of data for the research community. Although the genome sequence currently underway will be from one particular aphid species it is anticipated that the information obtained will be very relevant to other aphids including many which are important pests of agricultural crops, causing both direct feeding damage and transmitting plant virus diseases. Thus it will provide important information on how aphids develop resistance to insecticides, how new pesticides could be designed and potential new control strategies that don't require chemical treatments.