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. ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Resource-Related Research Projects (R24)
Project #
5R24GM075049-02
Application #
7257159
Study Section
Development - 1 Study Section (DEV1)
Program Officer
Haynes, Susan R
Project Start
2006-08-01
Project End
2010-07-31
Budget Start
2007-08-01
Budget End
2008-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$333,958
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Santa Barbara
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
094878394
City
Santa Barbara
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
93106
Belyaeva, Olga V; Chang, Chenbei; Berlett, Michael C et al. (2015) Evolutionary origins of retinoid active short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases of SDR16C family. Chem Biol Interact 234:135-43
Nydam, Marie L; Harrison, Richard G (2011) Reproductive protein evolution in two cryptic species of marine chordate. BMC Evol Biol 11:18
Tresser, Jason; Chiba, Shota; Veeman, Michael et al. (2010) doublesex/mab3 related-1 (dmrt1) is essential for development of anterior neural plate derivatives in Ciona. Development 137:2197-203
Kourakis, Matthew J; Newman-Smith, Erin; Smith, William C (2010) Key steps in the morphogenesis of a cranial placode in an invertebrate chordate, the tunicate Ciona savignyi. Dev Biol 340:134-44
Hendrix, David; Levine, Michael; Shi, Weiyang (2010) miRTRAP, a computational method for the systematic identification of miRNAs from high throughput sequencing data. Genome Biol 11:R39
Veeman, Michael T; Newman-Smith, Erin; El-Nachef, Danny et al. (2010) The ascidian mouth opening is derived from the anterior neuropore: reassessing the mouth/neural tube relationship in chordate evolution. Dev Biol 344:138-49
Shi, Weiyang; Hendrix, David; Levine, Mike et al. (2009) A distinct class of small RNAs arises from pre-miRNA-proximal regions in a simple chordate. Nat Struct Mol Biol 16:183-9
Shi, Weiyang; Peyrot, Sara M; Munro, Edwin et al. (2009) FGF3 in the floor plate directs notochord convergent extension in the Ciona tadpole. Development 136:23-8
Hofmann, Wilma A; Richards, Thomas A; de Lanerolle, Primal (2009) Ancient animal ancestry for nuclear myosin. J Cell Sci 122:636-43
Chiba, Shota; Jiang, Di; Satoh, Noriyuki et al. (2009) Brachyury null mutant-induced defects in juvenile ascidian endodermal organs. Development 136:35-9

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications