The planktonic microcrustacean Daphnia pulex is among the best-studied animals in ecological, toxicological and evolutionary research. One aspect that has sustained interest in the study system is the ability of D. pulex to develop inducible defence structures when exposed to predators, such as the phantom midge larvae Chaoborus. The available draft genome sequence for D. pulex is accelerating research to identify genes that confer plastic phenotypes that are regularly cued by environmental stimuli. Yet for quantifying gene expression levels, no experimentally validated set of internal control genes exists for the accurate normalization of qRT-PCR data.
Pubmed ID: 20587017 RIS Download
Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.
wFleaBase provides gene and genomic information for species of the genus Daphnia - commonly known as the water flea. It contains the genome of Daphnia pulex and other species, including bulk data files, and all gene pages, plus genomics tools including microsatellites, cDNA, Cosmid and BAC libraries, GSS and ESTs, and microarrays. It also contains maps of the Daphnia genome, and genome annotation tools. The freshwater crustacean Daphnia is a model system for ecology, evolution and the environmental sciences. The rapidly growing genomic data for this organism is stimulating interdisciplinary research to understand the complex interplay between genome structure, gene expression, individual fitness, and population-level responses to chemical contaminants and environmental change.wFleaBase includes data from all species of the genus, yet the primary species are D. pulex and D. magna, because of the broad set of genomic tools that have already been developed for these animals. A complete sequence for Daphnia pulex is now available at this site. Please observe this Data release policy. The data is a first characterization of the crustacean genome, which was made possible by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in collaboration with the Daphnia Genomics Consortium (DGC) whose members were funded by the National Science Foundation. Category: Genomics Databases (non-vertebrate) Subcategory: Invertebrate genome databases
View all literature mentionsThe Daphnia Genomics Consortium (DGC) is an international network of investigators committed to mounting the freshwater crustacean Daphnia as a model system for ecology, evolution and the environmental sciences. Along with research activities, the DGC is: (1) coordinating efforts towards developing the Daphnia genomic toolbox, which will then be available for use by the general community; (2) facilitating collaborative cross-disciplinary investigations; (3) developing bioinformatic strategies for organizing the rapidly growing genome database; and (4) exploring emerging technologies to improve high throughput analyses of molecular and ecological samples. If we are to succeed in creating a new model system for modern life-sciences research, it will need to be a community-wide effort. Research activities of the DGC are primarily focused on creating genomic tools and information. When completed, the current projects will offer a first view of the Daphnia genome''s topography, including regions of high and low recombination, the distribution of transposable, repetitive and regulatory elements, the size and structure of genes and of their neighborhoods. This information is crucial in formulating testable hypotheses relating genetics and demographics to the evolutionary potential or constraints of natural populations. Projects aiming to compile identifiable genes with their function are also underway, together with robust methods to verify these findings. Finally, these tools are being tested, by exploring their uses in key ecological and toxicological investigations. Each project benefits from the leadership and expertise of many individuals. For further details, begin by contacting the project directors. The DGC consists of biologists from a broad spectrum of subdisciplines, including limnology, ecotoxicology, quantitative and population genetics, systematics, molecular biology and evolution, developmental biology, genomics and bioinformatics. In many regards, the rapid early success of the consortium results from its grass-roots origin promoting an international composition, under a cooperative model, with significant scientific breadth. We hold to this approach in building this network and encourage more people to participate. All the while, the DGC is structured to effectively reach specific goals. The consortium includes an advisory board (composed of experts of the various subdisciplines), whose responsibility is to act as the research community''s agent in guiding the development of Daphnia genomic resources. The advisors communicate directly to DGC members, who are either contributing genomic tools or actively seeking funds for this function. The consortium''s main body (given the widespread interest in applying genomic tools in environmental studies) are the affiliates, who make use of these tools for their research and who are soliciting support.
View all literature mentionsSoftware to determine most stable reference (housekeeping) genes from set of tested candidate reference genes in given sample panel. From this, gene expression normalization factor can be calculated for each sample based geometric mean of user-defined number of reference genes.
View all literature mentions