We main and keep expanding our public library of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutants –ChlamyStation– which currently proposes over 600 lines, stored in liquid nitrogen. This collection is available to the Chlamydomonas community, with about 50 requests per year. As our own projects reach publication, we will progressively expand the catalogue, that now also include mutants generated by CRISPR-CAS9.
For diatoms, we will still maintain the collection of TF mutants (1000 strains) generated by RNAi within the framework of the EMBRC-FR program and we continue to generate over-expression lines and gene knock-out mutants of Phaeodactylum tricornutum and new models of diatoms (Cyclotella cryptica) made accessible to genome editing technologies (CRISPR/Cas). Mutants are generated for our research and for the community on demand.
Given our recent advances in genome editing, the lab has also invested in developing Nanopore sequencing technology, indeed important to characterize mutants.
For functional genomics, we continue to potentiate the DiatOmicBase, a genome portal to perform research on different diatom species, gathering comprehensive omic resources to ease the exploration of dispersed public datasets.
Phaeodactylum tricornutum mutant collection and other genetic resources
The laboratory is strongly contributing to improve genetic resources for the diatom model species Phaeodactylum tricornutum, in the framework of the French European Marine Biological Resource Centre, the European Marine Biological Research Infrastructure Cluster (EMBRIC), the Association of European Marine Biological Research Laboratories Expanded (Assemble plus) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Marine Microbiology Initiative.
In particular, the laboratory is generating a collection of transgenic lines with a deregulated expression of each of the 220 Transcription Factor of P. tricornutum, currently being built by RNA interference (RNAi). Around 150 RNAi TF specific vectors have been already generated as well as 330 RNAi lines of the bHLH-PAS transcription family.
For more information : soizic.cheminant-navarro@ibpc.fr.
In parallel, the laboratory is also participating in international efforts aiming to set up and improve genome editing in P. tricornutum and other species by the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The laboratory is also contributing to establish a modular cloning system to facilitate cloning and expression of diatom genes in P. tricornutum.