Project name: Volvox carteri

Description: The green alga Volvox carteri is a model organism for the development of multicellularity. It has a spherical shape with a complete division of labor between around 2000 somatic cells and 16 reproductive cells. When comparing Volvox with its unicellular relative Chlamydomonas rheinhardtii, one striking observation is the similarity in the protein coding genes [1]. Additionally, Baulcombe and colleagues showed that Chlamydomonas contains functional RNAi and miRNA machineries [2]. We deep sequenced small RNAs associated with one Argonaute protein of the female Volvox strain Vol6 during its vegetative growth phase. Using these data, we established a miRNA identification pipeline that takes into account plant miRNA feature in general and also uses parameters employed in finding miRNAs in Chlamydomonas. Other small RNAs that are functionally incorporated into Ago are characterized. 1. Prochnik, S.E., et al., Genomic analysis of organismal complexity in the multicellular green alga Volvox carteri. Science, 2010. 329(5988): p. 223-6. 2. Molnar, A., et al., miRNAs control gene expression in the single-cell alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Nature, 2007. 447(7148): p. 1126-9.Overall design: Examination of small RNAs bound to an Argonaute protein of Volvox carteri

Data type: Other

Sample scope: Monoisolate

Relevance: Environmental

Last updated: 2014-07-16