Ascidian Stock Center (ASC)

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目标是创建Ascidian Stock Center （ASC）。海鞘是胚胎学、基因调控网络、脊索动物进化和比较生理学研究的新兴模式系统。海鞘作为一种模型系统具有巨大的潜力，但它们也面临着独特的实验挑战。海鞘模型的局限性之一是大多数海鞘群落依赖于野生捕获的动物。虽然对几种海鞘进行了研究，但海鞘属的海鞘（C.肠子海鞘和C. savignyi海鞘）正成为最广泛使用的海鞘，这主要是由于它们在野外的广泛分布。大多数实验室依赖于野生捕获的动物，这意味着供应不可靠，有时甚至无法获得，而且可以进行的实验类型有限。我们在加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（UCSB）海洋实验室建立了海鞘培养设施。该申请的具体目的是扩建UCSB设施，以容纳一个库存中心，为不断增长的海鞘社区提供服务。库存中心的目的有两个方面：1)为研究实验室提供一个补充的乔纳成虫来源；2)产生并分配一组稳定的转基因动物，这些动物携带驱动GFP的组织特异性增强子。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is the creation of the Ascidian Stock Center (ASC). Ascidians are an emerging model system for the study of embryology, gene regulatory networks, chordate evolution and comparative physiology. Ascidians have great potential as a model system, but they present unique experimental challenges. One of the limitations of ascidian model is the dependence of most of the ascidian community on wild-caught animals. While several species are studied, ascidians of the Ciona genus (C. intestinalis and C. savignyi) are becoming the most widely used, largely due to their wide spread distribution in the wild. The dependence of most laboratories on wild-caught animals means that supplies are unreliable, and sometimes unattainable, and that the types of experiments that can be done are limited. We have established an ascidian culturing facility at the marine laboratory of the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). The Specific Aims of this application propose an expansion of the UCSB facility to accommodate a stock center that will service the growing ascidian community. The purpose of the stock center are two-fold: 1) provide a supplemental source of Ciona adults for research laboratories; and 2) generate and distribute a set of stable transgenic animals that carry tissue-specific enhancers that drive GFP.