Abstract
One of the challenges of the post-genomic era is to understand how the environment impacts upon the genome. It is likely that much of the phenotypic variation between individuals and species is based on non protein-coding sequences. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are recently discovered, non-coding, short (18-24 nucleotide) molecules, that direct post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by binding to miRNAs. This consortium will test the hypothesis that miRNAs play a role in gene expression regulation in response to environmental changes in three species: fruitfly, pufferfish and chicken. miRNAs will be identified in pufferfish and chicken and the sequence of already known miRNAs from Drosophila will be used. The expression profile of miRNAs will be established in response to biotic (parasite infection) and abiotic (temperature) stresses for fruitfly, temperature during early development for pufferfish and egg steroid concentration and condition-dependent plumage pigmentation in birds. miRNAs will be identified that show substantial changes in expression in response to these factors and the phenotypic consequences of manipulating their concentrations determined. Computational and experimental approaches will be used to identify the target genes of these miRNAs.
United Kingdom