DELLAPORTA, SL*; BUSS, L; WEINSTOCK, G; SCHIERWATER, B; Yale University; Yale University; Baylor College of Medicine; TiHo Hannover: The Trichoplax Genome Consortium

The placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens displays the simplest morphology of any free-living animal, can be easily maintained in the laboratory, and possesses the smallest genome of any animal yet measured (50 Mb). A consortium of marine invertebrate biologists, geneticists and genomic scientists has been assembled to begin the task of genome sequencing, annotation and gene analysis of the Trichoplax genome. We will report on biological, genomic and informatic resources now under development for this system. A geographically diverse collection of laboratory strains has been established. The Trichoplax Genome Project has completed a confirmation of the genome size, gene density estimates, AT:GC content, the composition of several large contiguous genomic regions and the mitochondrial genome sequence and content. An arrayed fosmid library and small-insert genomic library has been finished and a full-length cDNA library is currently under construction for EST and microarray investigations. Collectively these efforts are expected to collectively generate the suite of resources expected in a modern experimental model.