Award Abstract #0208335
BAC and YAC Libraries for Exploring Metazoan Origins

NSF Org:	IOS Division of Integrative Organismal Systems
Initial Amendment Date:	June 17, 2002
Latest Amendment Date:	June 17, 2002
Award Number:	0208335
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Judith Plesset IOS Division of Integrative Organismal Systems BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	July 1, 2002
Expires:	June 30, 2004 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$66215
Investigator(s):	Robert Steele resteele@uci.edu (Principal Investigator) Sean Carroll (Co-Principal Investigator) Pieter de Jong (Co-Principal Investigator) Ulrich Technau (Co-Principal Investigator) David Miller (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of California-Irvine 4199 Campus Dr Ste 300 IRVINE, CA 92697 949/824-4768
NSF Program(s):	DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEMS CLUSTER
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	BIOT, 9183, 1619
Program Element Code(s):	1111

ABSTRACT

0208335

Steele

A complete description of the evolutionary history of multicellular animals will require detailed information on the content, organization, and regulatory mechanisms of the genomes of animals from phyla throughout the animal phylogenetic tree. Of particular importance for such studies are species that diverged early from the rest of the animals and unicellular organisms which are close relatives of animals. Features of the genomes of such organisms which are shared with more recently diverged animals would then be ones which were present in the ancestor of all modern animals. The goal of this project is to prepare and archive bacterial artificial chromosome libraries from Nematostella vectensis (a sea anemome which is a member of the early diverging animal phylum Cnidaria) and from the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis, a unicellular organism closely related to multicellular animals. These libraries will provide important resources for addressing a variety of questions related to the origins, evolution, and development of multicellular animals. Such questions include: How did the Hox family of developmental regulatory genes evolve? When did various other developmental regulatory gene families appear during animal evolution? How closely related are choanoflagellates and multicellular animals, and what genes were necessary to make the transition from unicellularity to multicellularity? What happened at the genome level when nerves were added to multicellular animals? What cell adhesion and intercellular signaling molecules were present in the common ancestor of modern animals? Are cnidarian genes organized into operons, as suggested by the presence of spliced leader addition in this phylum? In addition to providing material for analysis of animal evolution, the libraries will facilitate the isolation of gene promoters, which will be essential for the development of functional assays in these organisms and for dissecting gene regulatory networks. The libraries generated by this project will be freely available to the research community. Information on the libraries and their availability will be provided through various means, including appropriate scientific newsgroups and web sites.

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