Sarcophaga crassipalpis

Sarcophaga crassipalpis

Sarcophaga crassipalpis
Flesh Fly
Taxonomic classification
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Sarcophagidae
Genus:	Sarcophaga
NCBI taxid:	59312
Databases
NCBI_genome:	43267
Information
Research interest:	Diapause gene expression
WorkingGroup:	Evo-Devo
Nomination:	i5K initiative

i5K Arthropod Sequencing Initiative  Supported by: 0 ()

Rational for sequencing the genome of the flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis

Karl H Joplin 1,2

1-Department of Biological Sciences, 2-Institute of Quantitative Biology, East Tennessee State University. Johnson City, TN, 37614 USA, joplin@etsu.edu, 423-439-6921 (ph) 423-439-5958 (fax)

Overview: Flesh flies have been valuable model organisms to study a variety of physiological, hormonal and developmental questions. Although they are not an important vector of disease, they are an important, if underappreciated, component of the recycling of organic carcasses and are used in forensic studies. From a biological standpoint, an important aspect of their lifecycle is their response to environmental cues to trigger a decision to enter the alternative life stage, diapause. Sequencing of the flesh fly will provide a crucial instrument to fully explore these processes. Diapause has important consequences to questions about control of developmental stages, aging, metabolic control, and immune response. An overview of the areas that would be amenable to genomic analysis include: • Isolation of diapause differentially regulated genes and associated comparison with aging genes. • Genetic control of metabolism associated with the inducible state of metabolic suppression during diapause. • Molecular response to environmental cues where short daylength induces an optional developmental state. • Genetic Regulatory Networks of developmental states. • Pervasive Genomic Transcription and regulatory control of gene expression. • Host-parasitoid interactions, comparison with Nasonia and Musca. • Comparative genomic analysis with the growing genomic datasets of the Diptera clade such as the Drosophila group, Musca, Aedes and Anopheles genomes. The community of researchers involved in flesh fly research is ready, prepared and eager to apply genomic analysis to their various research programs. The continued development of next generation sequencing and analysis platforms will enable the genomic projects of many model systems and the Sarcophaga project would be a leading candidate for sequencing. Acquisition of a complete genomic dataset will be the starting point for allowing investigations into the genomic transcriptional control and genetic regulatory networks that are becoming increasingly important components in the control of distinct biological states such as developmental life stages and gene expression, and regulatory controls on physiological responses to the environment.