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Research Interests Our main research interest focuses on the study of gene regulatory networks underlying embryo development and their evolution. We use as our model system the sea urchin embryo and in particular we study the genetic pathways that control mesoderm specification and differentiation.
The sea urchin embryo is a robust model system for these types of studies:
- A large number of embryos can be easily produced and cultured in the laboratory at very low cost
- The optical transparency and morphological simplicity of the sea urchin embryo makes it an ideal system for in vivo studies
- Embryos can withstand extensive micromanipulation
- Gene transfer procedures can be used to produce transgenic embryos
- The full genome sequence has been published
- Several genomic libraries and cDNA arrayed libraries have been constructed in different sea urchin species that can be employed in comparative genomics studies
- Sea urchins (Echinoderms) are evolutionarily closely related to the chordates
This research is important to bring new insight into the developmental genetic programs of higher organisms and their evolution. The developmental program of organisms as different as sea urchin and human share a common set of genes. What varies is the temporal and spatial pattern of gene expression during development. The information about when, where and at which level a gene has to be expressed during embryonic development is primarily encoded in its cis-regulatory regions. New technologies and genomic sequence data available today allow large-scale studies of the regulatory regions of the genome. These innovations and data are crucial in understanding the structure and function of the integrated genetic system underlying development.
Selected Publications - Sea Urchin Genome Sequencing Consortium (2006). The Genome of the Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Science vol. 314. no. 5801, pp. 941 – 952.
- Todd A. Castoe, Tricia Stephens, Brice P. Noonan and Cristina Calestani (2006). A novel group of type I polyketide synthases (PKS) in animals and the complex phylogenomics of PKSs. Gene, In Press.
- Calestani C., Rast J.P., Davidson E.H., (2003). Isolation of pigment cell specific genes in the sea urchin embryo by differential macroarray screening. Development, vol. 130, pp.4587-4596.
- Davidson E.H., Rast J.P., Oliveri P., Ransick A., Calestani C., Yuh C.H., Minokawa T., Amore G., Hinman V., Arenas-Mena C., Otim O., Brown T., Livi C.B., Lee P.Y., Revilla R., Rust A.G., Pan Z.J., Schilstra M.J., Clarke P.J.C., Arnone M.I., Rowen L., Cameron A.R., McClay D.R., Hood L., Bolouri H. (2002). A genomic regulatory network for development. Science, vol. 295, pp.1669-1678.
- Davidson E.H., Rast J.P., Oliveri P., Ransick A., Calestani C., Yuh C.H., Minokawa T., Amore G., Hinman V., Arenas-Mena C., Otim O., Brown T., Livi C.B., Lee P.Y., Revilla R., Clarke P.J.C., Rust A.G., Pan Z., Arnone M.I., Rowen L., Cameron R.A., McClay D.R., Hood L. and Bolouri H. (2002). A provisional regulatory gene network for specification of endomesoderm in the sea urchin embryo. Dev. Biol., vol. 246, no. 1, pp. 162-190
- Ransick A., Rast J.P., Minokawa T., Calestani C. and Davidson E.H., (2002). New early zygotic regulators of endomesoderm specification in sea urchin embryos discovered by differential array hybridization. Dev. Biol., vol. 246, no. 1, pp. 132-147.
- Rast J.P., Amore G., Calestani C., Livi C.B., Ransick A., Davidson E.H., (2000). Recovery of developmentally defined gene sets from high-density cDNA macroarrays. Dev. Biol., vol. 228, no. 2, pp. 270-286.
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