A quantitative analysis of phenotype in a multicellular prokaryote

锡拉丘兹大学被授予在理解基因组如何编码有机体三维结构方面迈出了关键的一步。揭示基因组中的每个基因如何影响有机体的结构和功能，即“从基因型到表型的问题”是具有挑战性的。即使是最简单的生物体，也会通过涉及许多不同基因的脆弱、复杂且往往鲜为人知的过程进行自我组装。在这种情况下，突变对任何单个基因的影响往往过于微妙，或者过于与其他基因的功能交织在一起，无法通过直接观察来确定。该项目将通过构建一个基于黄色粘球菌基因组的大型且特征良好的突变菌株集合，在克服这一挑战方面实现关键的一步。黄色粘球菌是一种用于研究三维多细胞结构的有机体。这项研究还将制定实验方案，分配定量表型图谱，阐明与每个基因相关的微妙功能变化，从而更准确和彻底地量化整个基因组背景下的表型，以及与功能相关的基因组规模数据集。除了为培养研究生提供平台外，所有的压力和数据都将用于本科生的教育目的。这些数据还将成为锡拉丘兹大学正在进行的高级生物信息学课程的学生不可或缺的工具，并分发给主要是本科院校的教职员工，为他们的学生开发类似的课程。此外，PI正在与当地高中教师合作，将这些数据带入他们的课堂，作为后基因组时代生命科学中从基因型到表型的问题和机会的介绍。有关该项目的信息可在www.WelchLab.org上找到

An award is made to Syracuse University to undertake a critical step in understanding how a genome encodes an organism's three-dimensional structure. Revealing how each gene in a genome impacts the structure and function of an organism, i.e., "the genotype to phenotype problem" is challenging. Even the simplest organisms self-assemble through fragile, complex, and often poorly understood processes involving many different genes. In this context, the impact of a mutation to any single gene is often too subtle, or too entwined with the function of other genes, to be determined by direct observation. This project will achieve a critical step in overcoming this challenge by constructing a large and well-characterized mutant strain collection based on the genome of Myxococcus xanthus, an organism used to study three dimensional multi-cellular structures. The research will also develop experimental protocols to assign quantitative phenotype profiles that elucidate subtle functional changes linked to each gene, resulting in more accurate and thorough quantification of phenotype in the context of the entire genome, and a genome-scale data set related to function. In addition to providing a platform for training graduate students, all the strains and data will be made available for education purposes at the undergraduate level. These data will also become integral tools for students in an ongoing upper- division bioinformatics course at Syracuse University, and distributed to faculty from primarily undergraduate institutions to develop similar curricula for their students. In addition, the PI is engaging with local high school teachers to bring these data into their classrooms as an introduction to the genotype-to-phenotype problem and opportunities in life science in the post-genomic era. Information on this project can be found at: www.welchlab.org