Transforming our understanding of eukaryotic gene functions through chemical genetics in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

 描述（由申请人提供）：数千个基因组已被测序，但它们编码的大多数基因的功能在很大程度上仍然未知。我的实验室旨在通过开发广泛适用的工具来改变我们工程生物学的能力，这些工具可以大大加速对未知基因的研究。在这个新的创新者项目中，我们将使用化学遗传学来分配功能的绿色衣藻莱茵衣藻，一个强大的模型系统的纤毛生物发生和运动，中心体，光合作用，电子传递，细胞器间的通信和光遗传学的研究中心的数千个未表征的基因。我们将利用我的实验室开发的改变游戏规则的工具，包括第一个全基因组收集的索引突变体在这个生物体和方法跟踪突变丰度池的10万个突变体。我们将在200种生长条件下量化代表基因组中几乎所有基因的突变体的生长缺陷和增强。此外，在一个推力聚焦纤毛功能，我们将量化纤毛表型的所有突变体的存在下，最近发现的50纤毛功能的小分子调节剂。我们将使用这些数据来准确预测数千个未表征基因的功能，其原理是在相同途径中发挥功能的基因突变体通常表现出相似的表型。此外，我们将使用化学-遗传相互作用确定纤毛功能小分子调节剂的遗传靶点。我们将与科学界合作剖析基因功能，重点是纤毛生物发生所必需的新基因。更广泛地说，该项目将作为推进尖端工具开发的平台，以系统和定量地探测整个生命之树的基因功能。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Thousands of genomes have been sequenced, but the functions of most of the genes that they encode remain largely unknown. My lab aims to transform our ability to engineer biology by developing broadly applicable tools that dramatically accelerate the study of uncharacterized genes. In this New Innovator project, we will use chemical genetics to assign functions to thousands of uncharacterized genes in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a powerful model system central to studies of ciliary biogenesis and motility, centrosomes, photosynthesis, electron transport, inter-organelle communication and optogenetics. We will leverage game-changing tools developed by my lab, including the first genome-wide collection of indexed mutants in this organism and methods for tracking mutant abundances in pools of 100,000 mutants. We will quantify the growth defects and enhancements of mutants representing nearly all genes in the genome across 200 growth conditions. Additionally, in a thrust focusing on ciliary function, we will quantify ciliary phenotypes for all mutants in the presence of 50 recently discovered small molecule modulators of cilia function. We will use these data to accurately predict functions for thousands of uncharacterized genes based on the principle that mutants in genes that function in the same pathway usually show similar phenotypes. Furthermore, we will identify the genetic targets of the small molecule modulators of cilia function using chemical-genetic interactions. We will dissect gene functions in collaboration with the scientific community, with a focus on novel genes essential for cilia biogenesis. More broadly, the project will serve as a platform for advancing the development of cutting-edge tools to systematically and quantitatively probe gene functions throughout the tree of life.