The first objective of this application is to develop and use high-throughput techniques for determining 5'-ends of RNA transcripts and for isolating genes preferentially expressed in specific cells of living multicellular organisms. Information about the 5'-RNA ends is important to precisely position genes within genomes, to identify unpredicted genes and alternative RNA transcripts having different 5'-ends, and to define the proximal regulatory regions including promoter elements. To accomplish this goal, the candidate has already developed two techniques, a high-throughput technique that can identify 5'-RNA ends in nematodes, and a method that can label RNA in specific cells of multicellular organisms. The second objective of this application is to give the candidate first-rate training in the fields of functional genomics and bioinformatics. Thus, in the future, the candidate can carry out much higher quality research based on knowledge accumulated in bioinformatics and experimental genomics. As a model system, the candidate will analyze the proximal transcriptional regulatory regions in two nematode genomes (C. elegans and C. briggsae), which will be identified by the high-throughput 5'-RNA end determination method. The research will be performed under the supervision of Dr. Paul W. Sternberg, a HHMI investigator at California Institute of Technology, who also supervises WormBase, in which scientists coordinates studies related to worm genome sequences. Since the candidate's research will generate a large amount of information on new genes and correct genomic positions of the 5'-ends of genes in C. elegans and C. briggsae genome sequences, there will be a close collaboration between WormBase and the candidate. Thus, the candidate's research can be immediately available to the public through WormBase.
| Hwang, Byung Joon; Meruelo, Alejandro D; Sternberg, Paul W (2007) C. elegans EVI1 proto-oncogene, EGL-43, is necessary for Notch-mediated cell fate specification and regulates cell invasion. Development 134:669-79 |
| Hwang, Byung Joon; Muller, Hans-Michael; Sternberg, Paul W (2004) Genome annotation by high-throughput 5' RNA end determination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101:1650-5 |
