title: Neuronal transcriptome of Aplysia: neuronal compartments and circuitry.
abstract: Molecular analyses of Aplysia, a well-established model organism for cellular and systems neural science, have been seriously handicapped by a lack of adequate genomic information. By sequencing cDNA libraries from the central nervous system (CNS), we have identified over 175,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs), of which 19,814 are unique neuronal gene products and represent 50%-70% of the total Aplysia neuronal transcriptome. We have characterized the transcriptome at three levels: (1) the central nervous system, (2) the elementary components of a simple behavior: the gill-withdrawal reflex-by analyzing sensory, motor, and serotonergic modulatory neurons, and (3) processes of individual neurons. In addition to increasing the amount of available gene sequences of Aplysia by two orders of magnitude, this collection represents the largest database available for any member of the Lophotrochozoa and therefore provides additional insights into evolutionary strategies used by this highly successful diversified lineage, one of the three proposed superclades of bilateral animals.
authors.affiliation: The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, 9505 Ocean Shore Boulevard, St. Augustine, FL 32080, USA. moroz@whitney.ufl.edu
authors.forename: Leonid L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Moroz
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Sathyanarayanan V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Puthanveettil
authors.forename: Andrea B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Kohn
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heyland
authors.forename: Bjarne
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Knudsen
authors.forename: Anuj
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahni
authors.forename: Fahong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jezzini
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lovell
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Iannucculli
authors.forename: Minchen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tuan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Huitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalachikov
authors.forename: Yuri V
authors.initials: YV
authors.lastname: Panchin
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Farmerie
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Jingyue
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Eric R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Kandel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001048:Aplysia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000378:metabolism*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D017952:Ganglia, Invertebrate; D005880:Gills / Q000294:innervation; D009415:Nerve Net; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014158:Transcription, Genetic