Popularresearchorganismsusedinbiotechnology/biomedicalresearch

Whatare'modelorganisms'?
Amodelorganismisaspeciesthathasbeenwidelystudied,usuallybecauseitiseasyto
maintainandbreedinalaboratorysettingandhasparticularexperimentaladvantages.
Overtheyears,agreatdealofdatahasaccumulatedaboutsuchorganismsandthisinitselfmakesthem
moreattractivetostudy.Modelorganismsareusedtoobtaininformationaboutotherspeciesincluding
humansthataremoredifficulttostudydirectly.

Wecandistinguishthreemajortypesofmodelorganism:

Geneticmodelorganisms
Thesearespeciesthatareamenabletogeneticanalysis,i.e.theybreedinlargenumbersandhaveashort
generationtimesolargescalecrossescanbesetupandfollowedoverseveralgenerations.Manydifferent
mutantsaregenerallyavailableandhighlydetailedgeneticmapscanbecreated.Examplesinclude
baker's
yeast
(Saccharomycescerevisiae),the
fruitfly
(Drosophilamelanogaster)andthe
nematodeworm
(Caenorhabditiselegans).

Experimentalmodelorganisms
Thesespeciesmaynotnecessarilybegeneticallyamenable(i.e.theymayhavelonggenerationintervals
andpoorgeneticmaps)buttheyhaveotherexperimentaladvantages.Forexample,the
chicken
andthe
Africanclawed
frog
Xenopuslaevishavemanydisadvantagesintermsofgeneticsbuttheyproducerobust
embryosthatcanbestudiedandmanipulatedwithease.Thesespeciesarewidelyusedmodelorganismsin
developmentalbiology.

Genomicmodelorganisms
Regardlessoftheirgeneticorexperimentaladvantagesanddisadvantages,certainspeciesarechosenas
modelorganismsbecausetheyoccupyapivotalpositionintheevolutionarytreeorbecausesomequalityof
theirgenomemakesthemidealtostudy.
Anexampleisthepuffer
fish
(Fugurubripes)whichhasasimilargenerepertoiretohumansbutamuch
smallergenome(400millionbasepairsinsteadof3000million).Thedifferenceinsizeismainlyduetothe
presenceofmorerepetitiveDNA,largersegmentsofDNAbetweengenesandlargerintronsinthehuman
genome.

Anotherconsiderationthatmustbeaddressedistherelevanceofmodelorganismstohumans.Surprisingly,
over60percentofthehumandiseasegenesthathavebeenidentifiedthusfarhavecounterpartsinthefly
andworm,revealingacoreofabout1500genefamiliesthatisconservedinallanimals.
Genesaffectingmoreevolutionarilyadvancedfeatures,suchasourimmunesystem,arelesslikelytohave
directcounterpartsinsimpleanimals.Forthesesystems,werequireclosermodelssuchasthe
mouse
.A
greatdealhasbeenlearnedabouthumansbymappingandisolatingmousegenesandusingtheseasa
shortcuttofindcorrespondinghumangenes.Themousegenomeissimilarlyorganisedtothehuman
genomeandlargeblocksofgenesareevenarrangedinthesameorder(see
Comparativegenomics
).Mice
havebeenextensivelyusedtoestablishdiseasemodelsbymimickingthegenedefectsseeninhumans,
andthesemodelscanbeusedtotesttheefficacyofnewdrugs.

Assignment(Due090916)

Eachindividualwillchooseandresearchamodelorganismfromthelistbelow.Youwillberequired
topresentandteachtheclassaboutyourselectedmodelorganism.
Potentialmodelorganismsinclude,butarenotlimitedtothefollowing:
Fruitfly(Drosopila)
Escherichiacoli(E.coli)
Mouse
Rat
Zebrafish
Chicken
Nematode(Caenorhabditiselegans)
Yeast
Arabidopsisthaliana
Nakedmolerat
Rhesusmacaque
Dictyosteliumdiscoideum
Tobaccomosaicvirus
Duringyourpresentation,pleaseaddressthefollowingtopics:

Generalbackgroundinformationabouttheorganism

Highlightthetypesofbiologicalresearchbeingperformedusingtheorganism

Provideoneormorespecificexample

Whyisthisparticularspeciesagoodmodelorganism?

Howarewerelatedtoit?

Whatfundamentaldiscoverieshavebeenmadesofarwiththisorganismthatapplymore
broadlytootherlivingthings?

Whataretheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofusingthisorganismforunderstanding
humanbiology?