Project Summary
Defining the left and right sides of the body is a critical part of animal development. Yet a limiting factor for understanding early development is that asymmetry is nearly always fixed in the same direction (e.g. heart to left), except in some mirror-image snails. How are snails able to produce reversed forms without associated pathology, unlike any other animal group? This project will instruct the student in some of the techniques that we are using to understand asymmetry in snails.
Full Project Description
In my lab, we are using genomic technologies to identify evolutionarily and developmentally important genes, with a particular focus on those that determine left/right asymmetry. The study organisms are snails but the findings have implications in understanding our own body asymmetry and handedness.
The student will work with myself, getting experience in a range of techniques, with the overall aim of understanding the relationship between asymmetry and handedness, as well as working towards identifying a candidate gene for chirality. The work will involve some standard molecular biology skills, behavioural experiments on snails, care of the snails, and – critically - bioinformatics.
Initial work will likely focus on behavioural experiments in snails, as well as some snail feeding, and monitoring of snail crosses that we have in the lab.
Subsequent work will involve DNA extraction and quality checks.
1/2 individuals will be then sent for genome sequencing. In the meantime, the student may learn basic bioinformatics, as well as e.g. command-line unix
Finally, the student will conduct basic checks on the whole genome sequence received, including analyses and methods such assembling a whole mtDNA genome.
The project is on snails but the skills are transferable, especially in molecular biology and bioinformatic elements, putting the student in an excellent position for any future career in science.