GEISHA, a Chicken Embryo Gene Expression Resource

描述(申请人提供)：随着人类基因组测序的完成，人们的注意力集中在了解基因功能上，大约一半的基因仍然未知。关键的第一步是确定基因表达的空间和时间模式。这对于胚胎发育的早期阶段尤其重要，此时许多重要的发育过程都会发生，对正常发育至关重要的基因也会表达出来。由于人类胚胎中的基因表达分析在伦理上是站不住脚的，因此必须在模式生物中完成表达模式的绘制。鸡是首屈一指的非哺乳动物模式生物，被广泛用于各种研究领域的研究。鸡胚胎为大规模表达筛选提供了许多优点，包括与人类惊人的相似性、低成本和现成的可获得性。 这项建议的目标是创建一个鸡胚胎原位杂交表达资源。目标如下：1)扩展现有的基因表达筛选工作，称为Geisha(Gallus Est原位杂交分析)，使用自动化的高通量整体原位杂交分析，通过四天的发育定位鸡胚胎中表达序列的位置；2)通过并行的协调筛选工作，从单个研究人员和从已发表的结果中获得更多的表达数据；3)将表达信息保存在关系数据库中，并使用可自由访问的网络界面向研究界提供表达数据。将创建一个鸡解剖本体来描述表达模式并实现时空查询，并将使用数据来注释鸡基因组。这种集中的原位杂交基因表达信息储存库将为生物医学研究社区提供有价值的和全面的资源。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): With sequencing of the human genome completed, attention is focusing on understanding gene function, which for approximately half of all genes remains unknown. A crucial first step is to determine spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression. This is especially important for early stages of embryogenesis, when many important developmental processes occur and when genes critical for normal development are expressed. Since gene expression analysis in human embryos is ethically untenable, mapping of expression patterns must be accomplished in model organisms. Chicken is the premiere non-mammalian model organism, and is used in research across a broad spectrum of research disciplines. The chicken embryo provides many advantages for large-scale expression screening, including striking similarities to human, low expense and ready availability. The goal of this proposal is to create an in situ hybridization expression resource for chicken embryos. The objectives are as follows: 1) to expand an existing gene expression screening effort, called GEISHA (gallus est in situ hybridization analysis), using automated high throughput whole mount in situ hybridization analysis to map the location of expressed sequences in chick embryos through four days of development; 2) to acquire additional expression data through parallel coordinated screening efforts, from individual researchers, and from published results; 3) to house expression information in a relational database and present expression data to the research community using a freely accessible web interface. A chicken anatomical ontology will be created to describe expression patterns and to enable spatio-temporal querying, and data will be used to annotate the chicken genome. This centralized repository for in situ hybridization gene expression information will provide a valuable and comprehensive resource for the biomedical research community.