One important aspect of collaborative research is exchange of research materials such as mutant fish. But because of the boom in zebrafish research, investigators around the world are running out of space and may lose older mutations of fish to make room for new ones. To help prevent the loss of invaluable genetic resources, NCRR supports construction of a new National Center for Zebrafish at the University of Oregon. The center, under the direction of Dr. Monte Westerfield, will maintain healthy stocks of fish and frozen sperm of identified genotypes to make them available to the research community worldwide. Dr. Westerfield also maintains a comprehensive database of zebrafish research information on the Internet.
Investigators also can arrange to add their own findings to the database.
Much of the work on zebrafish genetics has taken place in the last few years, and Dr. Postlethwait says that he marvels at the speed of it all. His hope is that work on the zebrafish will parallel that of the human genome, allowing the little fish to make a big splash in genetics circles. This research is supported by the Comparative Medicine and Research Infrastructure areas of the National Center for Research Resources and by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Zebrafish hox clusters and vertebrate genome evolution. A microsatellite genetic linkage map for zebrafish.