Comparative Genomics—An Application for Positional Cloning of the weissherbst Mutant

Abstract

This chapter focuses on comparative genomics. Comparative genomic resources are helpful to further establish zebrafish as an excellent model organism for studying vertebrate development and genetics and for modeling human biological processes and diseases. Genomic comparison between zebrafish and other vertebrate model organisms provides useful information that one can use to understand the evolution of each vertebrate species. At the same time, this comparison facilitates the use of genomic information obtained in other vertebrate organisms for zebrafish research projects and vice versa. It is therefore important to create and use comparative genomic tools and resources to accelerate research projects in zebrafish and other vertebrates. The chapter also provides resources for comparative genomic studies. To demonstrate how one can use the available comparative genomic studies resources, the chapter also presents an updated version of the bioinformatic method used in the positional cloning of the zebrafish hypochromic mutant weissherbst. A vast amount of genomic information is available to the zebrafish community. To take advantage of these resources, researchers need to be able to use comparative genomic analysis as a tool for identifying potential mutant genes in positional and candidate cloning projects of zebrafish genetic mutants.