SkateBase, an elasmobranch genome project and collection of molecular resources for chondrichthyan fishes [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/445]
Jennifer Wyffels,
Benjamin L. King,
James Vincent,
Chuming Chen,
Cathy H. Wu,
Shawn W. Polson
Affiliations
Jennifer Wyffels
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19711, USA
Benjamin L. King
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, ME, 04672, USA
James Vincent
Vermont Genetics Network, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
Chuming Chen
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19711, USA
Cathy H. Wu
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19711, USA
Shawn W. Polson
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19711, USA
Chondrichthyan fishes are a diverse class of gnathostomes that provide a valuable perspective on fundamental characteristics shared by all jawed and limbed vertebrates. Studies of phylogeny, species diversity, population structure, conservation, and physiology are accelerated by genomic, transcriptomic and protein sequence data. These data are widely available for many sarcopterygii (coelacanth, lungfish and tetrapods) and actinoptergii (ray-finned fish including teleosts) taxa, but limited for chondrichthyan fishes. In this study, we summarize available data for chondrichthyes and describe resources for one of the largest projects to characterize one of these fish, Leucoraja erinacea, the little skate. SkateBase (http://skatebase.org) serves as the skate genome project portal linking data, research tools, and teaching resources.
