Development of Shared Resources for Fundulus Genomics

尽管它的体积小，颜色相对平淡，但在帮助生物化学家、生理学家、毒理学家、环境科学家、生态学家、发育生物学家和资源管理者保护人类健康和生态系统健康方面发挥了关键作用。在各自的实验室里，这些学科的科学家们已经开始使用分子工具来探索F. heteroclitus的基因组，也被称为泥鳅、mummichog或鳉鱼。该提案旨在将研究Fundulus的研究人员聚集在一起，共享现有资源，并开发共同的分子和计算资源，使所有人都可以使用。目前的目标是通过汇集这一广泛分布的研究小组已经获得的信息，创建一个对眼底虫的生存和繁殖至关重要的基因文库。从这个基因库中，可以产生数千个不同的眼底DNA片段，并将其结合到特殊的显微镜载玻片上，称为微阵列。如果这些微阵列被复制并广泛使用，它们可以用来评估眼底基因活性的变化，作为内部或外部环境的功能。该提案的其他目标是开发通用的生物信息学工具和平台，以便在用户社区之间有效地交换数据，以及促进协同活动，包括通用微阵列格式的打印和质量控制，以及对眼底基因组的进一步探索。通过将那些愿意分享他们的资源和对眼底基因组的深入了解的人与那些愿意将这些基因组技术应用于基础和应用研究的人聚集在一起，拟议的活动将催化高质量的科学，并为更大的科学家社区创造新的资源。

Despite its small size and relatively bland coloration, the fish Fundulus heteroclitus has played a critical role in helping biochemists, physiologists, toxicologists, environmental scientists, ecologists, developmental biologists and resource managers protect human health and ecosystem health. In their individual laboratories, scientists in each of these disciplines have begun to use molecular tools to explore the genome of F. heteroclitus, also known as the mudminnow, mummichog or killifish. This proposal seeks to bring together the community of researchers working on Fundulus to share existing resources and to develop common molecular and computational resources that would be made available to all. The immediate goal is to create a library of genes that are important to survival and reproduction in Fundulus by pooling information that is already available among this wide-spread group of researchers. From this library of genes, thousands of different Fundulus DNA segments could be produced and bound to special microscope slides, called microarrays. If these microarrays are copied and made widely available, they can be used to evaluate changes in gene activity in Fundulus as a function of the internal or external environment. Additional goals of this proposal are to develop common bioinformatic tools and platforms for effective exchange of data among the user community, as well as to promote synergistic activities, including printing and quality-control of common microarray formats, and further exploration of the Fundulus genome. By bringing together those who would share their resources and intimate knowledge of the Fundulus genome with those who would apply these genome-enabled techniques for basic and applied research, the proposed activity will catalyze high-quality science and create new resources for the greater community of scientists.