A high-throughput analysis of the protein coding genes that direct shell formation in the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Daniel Jackson
• Subject Area: Animal Physiology and Biochemistry
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 200068432

Little is known about the genetic and molecular mechanisms by which animals make hard body parts, also known as biominerals. To date, tens of proteins have been functionally demonstrated to play roles in bone, shell and skeleton formation. This is in contrast to the hundreds of gene products that are thought to be involved in these processes. By using high throughput methods in combination with next generation sequence datasets already in hand, we will isolate and characterise the majority of the gene products involved in shell formation in the freshwater pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. This high throughput dataset will be the first of its kind for any mollusc, a group of animals whose evolutionary success is largely due to a wide variety of shell morphologies. These results will provide deep insight into the processes that supported the early evolution of multicellular animal life. According to the fossil record, soft-bodied multicellular animals were rapidly replaced by animals with hard endo- and exo-skeletons during a period over 540 million years ago known as the 'Cambrian explosion'. The evolution of an ability to biomineralise is therefore thought to have been one factor that supported the diversification of complex animal life. A comprehensive catalog of the genes responsible for molluscan shell formation will therefore significantly contribute to our understanding of how the ability to biomineralise evolved.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: Automated in situ detection system
• Instrumentation Group: 3190 Sonstige Geräte der Klinischen Chemie und Molekularbiologie