Crocodilian Genomics
Donation protected
Crocodilians are apex predators in whatever environment they inhabit and are critical to ecosystem stability. Unfortunately, nearly half of all crocodilian species are considered endangered.
We are a group of biologists in the US, Sweden and Australia interested in understanding the evolution of crocodilians so that conservation efforts can be improved. We recently sequenced and published the genome sequnces of three species (American alligator, saltwater crocodile, Indian gharial (Science 346:125449)).
Now that those genome assemblies are available, we can use them to aid in assembling the genomes of the 20 remaining species in the group.
We have access to a facility that can accomplish the sequencing for $13,000. Using our own research funds, we have collected $5000 for the project. We are asking for the remaining $8000 to pay for the remaining sequencing costs.
Our main scientific objective is to investigate how crocodilian genomes have evolved over the past 100 million years. Modern members of the genus Crocodylus are notorious for being able to interbreed readily. Having the genome assemblies for the remaining crocodilians (ranging from additional modern species to the more ancient caimans) will allow us to determine whether this has been a characteristic of crocodilians throughout their evolution or if this is a characteristic unique to modern species in genus Crocodylus.
This also represents the first opportunity for the scientific community to generate genome assemblies for an entire group of a single vertebrate order (Crocodylia) - a milestone for vertebrate genomics.
Of course, all data would be released to any interested party to analyze for other features of crocodilian genome evolution.
We would need the funds within one month of this posting in order to get the sequencing at the costs we estimated.
As scientists, this represents a very exciting opportunity to make history and to discover more about the way crocodilians evolved and to provide valuable information to the scientific community that can aid these wonderfully complex creatures.
We are a group of biologists in the US, Sweden and Australia interested in understanding the evolution of crocodilians so that conservation efforts can be improved. We recently sequenced and published the genome sequnces of three species (American alligator, saltwater crocodile, Indian gharial (Science 346:125449)).
Now that those genome assemblies are available, we can use them to aid in assembling the genomes of the 20 remaining species in the group.
We have access to a facility that can accomplish the sequencing for $13,000. Using our own research funds, we have collected $5000 for the project. We are asking for the remaining $8000 to pay for the remaining sequencing costs.
Our main scientific objective is to investigate how crocodilian genomes have evolved over the past 100 million years. Modern members of the genus Crocodylus are notorious for being able to interbreed readily. Having the genome assemblies for the remaining crocodilians (ranging from additional modern species to the more ancient caimans) will allow us to determine whether this has been a characteristic of crocodilians throughout their evolution or if this is a characteristic unique to modern species in genus Crocodylus.
This also represents the first opportunity for the scientific community to generate genome assemblies for an entire group of a single vertebrate order (Crocodylia) - a milestone for vertebrate genomics.
Of course, all data would be released to any interested party to analyze for other features of crocodilian genome evolution.
We would need the funds within one month of this posting in order to get the sequencing at the costs we estimated.
As scientists, this represents a very exciting opportunity to make history and to discover more about the way crocodilians evolved and to provide valuable information to the scientific community that can aid these wonderfully complex creatures.
Organizer
David Ray
Organizer
Lubbock, TX
