Developing the Dunnart as a Model Species for Marsupial Research

该项目旨在开发一种能够进行基因组操作的有袋动物模型，将我们对有袋动物生物学的理解提升到一个新的水平。通过这样做，该项目将产生第一个全面的转录组数据，定义有袋动物的早期细胞谱系规范。结合来自小鼠和人类的类似数据，它将使我们能够研究早期哺乳动物的多样性。此外，它还将确定在最早期细胞谱系分化中起重要作用的基因群：滋养层细胞、多胚层细胞和下胚层细胞。该项目可能会确定母系本地化的转录本与有袋动物特定的作用，在滋养层-多胚细胞规范，提供新的见解的基本途径，维持哺乳动物的多能性和哺乳动物基因组的进化。

The project aims to develop a marsupial model capable of genome manipulations to take our understanding of marsupial biology to the next level. In doing so, the project would produce the first comprehensive transcriptome data defining early cell lineage specification in a marsupial. Combined with similar data from mouse and human, it would enable us to examine diversity in early mammals. In addition, it would identify cohorts of genes with fundamental roles in differentiation of the earliest cell lineages: trophoblast, pluriblast and hypoblast. The project may identify maternally localised transcripts with a marsupial-specific role in trophoblast–pluriblast specification, giving new insights into the fundamental pathways maintaining pluripotency in mammals and the evolution of the mammalian genome.