Project Details
Projekt
Mapping sequences to protist morphospecies
Applicant
Dr. Frank Nitsche
Subject Area
Systematics and Morphology (Zoology)
Term
from 2017 to 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 351985275
The aim of this application is to create a reliable and comprehensive set of molecular sequence data for protist morpho-species. One trend at present is metagenomic analysis of protist communities. The lack of reference data (sequences) hinders the analysis of this gigantic amount of data. At present, reference databases are incomplete and/or unreliable. This is one of the reasons why the EukRef database was found, a consortium of experts for different groups combines their efforts to enhance the datasets of markergens for morpho-species. The project is supposed to contribute to this reference database and, as this information is essential for ecological analysis, gather autecological data like temperature and salinity tolerances for cultivated strains. Applying an automated micromanipulator we apply an innovative and highly efficient method to create clonal cultures of protists. In particular the detailed knowledge on spatial and temporal distribution patterns of protists (in the first period we will concentrate mainly on choanoflagellates) allows a highly efficient workflow, as demonstrated by a pilot study.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
