Genetic mapping of cryptic traits in medaka.

The study of environmentally-responsive traits is complicated by considerable variability and plasticity within populations. Furthermore, endpoint phenotyping approaches rarely account for the contributions of embryogenesis, the most environmentally-sensitive life stage in animals. We use multi-scale, individual-embryo phenotyping by single-cell-RNA-seq, which captures key parameters of embryogenesis including cell type-specific transcriptional responses, lineage-specific developmental rate, and cell type composition. This project will provide a significant resource for understanding cell type-specific environmental responses in aquatic vertebrates and accelerate computational method development in the emerging field of statistical developmental genetics.

Collaborators

Birney Group, EMBL-EBI Hinxton

Wittbrodt Group, University of Heidelberg