The Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA): Developing Community Resources to Study Diverse Invertebrate Genomes
Type
ArticleAuthors
Bracken-Grissom, HeatherCollins, Allen G.
Collins, Timothy
Crandall, Keith
Distel, Daniel
Dunn, Casey
Giribet, Gonzalo
Haddock, Steven
Knowlton, Nancy
Martindale, Mark
Medina, Monica
Messing, Charles
O'Brien, Stephen J.
Paulay, Gustav
Putnam, Nicolas
Ravasi, Timothy

Rouse, Greg W.
Ryan, Joseph F.
Schulze, Anja
Worheide, Gert

Adamska, Maja
Bailly, Xavier
Breinholt, Jesse
Browne, William E.
Diaz, M. Christina
Evans, Nathaniel
Flot, Jean-Francois
Fogarty, Nicole
Johnston, Matthew
Kamel, Bishoy

Kawahara, Akito Y.
Laberge, Tammy
Lavrov, Dennis
Michonneau, Francois
Moroz, Leonid L.
Oakley, Todd
Osborne, Karen
Pomponi, Shirley A.
Rhodes, Adelaide
Rodriguez-Lanetty, Mauricio
Santos, Scott R.
Satoh, Nori
Thacker, Robert W.
Van de Peer, Yves

Voolstra, Christian R.

Welch, David Mark
Winston, Judith
Zhou, Xin

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionComputational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC)
Bioscience Program
Integrative Systems Biology Lab
Marine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Reef Genomics Lab
Date
2013-12-11Online Publication Date
2013-12-11Print Publication Date
2014-01-01Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/575591
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Over 95% of all metazoan (animal) species comprise the invertebrates, but very few genomes from these organisms have been sequenced. We have, therefore, formed a Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA). Our intent is to build a collaborative network of diverse scientists to tackle major challenges (e.g., species selection, sample collection and storage, sequence assembly, annotation, analytical tools) associated with genome/transcriptome sequencing across a large taxonomic spectrum. We aim to promote standards that will facilitate comparative approaches to invertebrate genomics and collaborations across the international scientific community. Candidate study taxa include species from Porifera, Ctenophora, Cnidaria, Placozoa, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Annelida, Bryozoa, and Platyhelminthes, among others. GIGA will target 7000 noninsect/nonnematode species, with an emphasis on marine taxa because of the unrivaled phyletic diversity in the oceans. Priorities for selecting invertebrates for sequencing will include, but are not restricted to, their phylogenetic placement; relevance to organismal, ecological, and conservation research; and their importance to fisheries and human health. We highlight benefits of sequencing both whole genomes (DNA) and transcriptomes and also suggest policies for genomic-level data access and sharing based on transparency and inclusiveness. The GIGA Web site () has been launched to facilitate this collaborative venture.Citation
(2013). The Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA): Developing Community Resources to Study Diverse Invertebrate Genomes. Journal of Heredity, 105(1), 1–18. doi:10.1093/jhered/est084Sponsors
American Genetic Association with a Special Event Award that provided the primary funding for the maiden GIGA workshop; Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics (Russia Ministry of Science Mega grant 11.G34.31.0068 to S.J. O'Brien, Principal Investigator); Life Technologies and BioNanoGenomics; National Science Foundation's "Assembling the Tree of Life" (DEB awards 0732903, 0829763, 0829783, 0829791, 0829986).Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)Journal
Journal of Heredityae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1093/jhered/est084