Transcript RCN-2011-Desjardins-lightning

Phenotype to genotype in
Nasonia and beyond
Christopher Desjardins
The Broad Institute
Cambridge, MA
The insect genetic model Nasonia
Genus of fly parasitoid with diverse phenotypes
N. vitripennis
N. longicornis
N. giraulti
N. oneida
Diverse resources: genome, genetic map, RNAi
Nasonia: phenotype to genotype
Morphology
Phenotype
Genotype
Behavior
Reproductive
x
47% survival
x
18% survival
Drawing from Drosophila
st-318: red eye mutant = cinnabar gene
As our model organisms diversify the need to relate a broad
range of phenotypes across them grows
What do I do now?
• Bioinformatics scientist at the Broad
Institute
• Assist biologists in the interpretation of
genomic data
– Comparative genomics
– Functional annotation
– High throughput transcriptional profiling
• The number one question of most
biologists involved in a genome
sequencing project is how to link
phenotype to genotype