The ZF-MODELS consortium would like to draw attention to its public
and free knock-out service for zebrafish, based on the resequencing of
mutagenized fish (TILLING). Up to 60 knock-outs will be performed for
researchers outside the consortium, whose requests are considered on
the basis of their scientific merit. The workload is distributed
between the laboratories of Sanger Institute (D. Stemple), Hubrecht
Laboratory (E. Cuppen), and TU Dresden (M. Brand). To request a
zebrafish KO mutant, please send a brief (approx. one page) summary to
Dr. Edwin Cuppen <mailto:ecuppen at niob.knaw.nl>. This summary should
contain the following information:
Information on the gene to be knocked out: Name of the gene and
Ensembl ID. Please note that the ZF-MODELS consortium will only accept
requests for KOs based on Ensembl IDs. The requester should also check
the Ensembl annotation. In case the annotation is incorrect, the
requester has to make sure that it is changed. The ZF- MODELS
consortium will not screen for a gene as long as the annotation is not
correct.
Scientific relevance: Explain why is it important to knock this gene
out.
Zebrafish background of the lab requesting the KO mutant: Explain how
any work on the KO mutant provided would be embedded in an environment
in your lab where people can actually work with zebrafish mutants.
The summaries received by Dr. Edwin Cuppen form the basis for
prioritized lists drafted up by the ZF-MODELS Executive Committee on a
regular basis.
Once a request has been accepted, you will be asked to design an
amplicon(s) for your region(s) of interest through the LIMSTILL online
tool <http://limstill.niob.knaw.nl/>. Oligos will be ordered and
tested by the ZF-MODELS consortium. The progress of requests can be
tracked through the internal knock-out website of Hubrecht Laboratory
(login required).
Information on the knock-out mutants generated by the ZF-MODELS
consortium is made publicly available through the knock-out website
<http://www.niob.knaw.nl/researchpages/cuppen/zfmodels/> of Hubrecht
Laboratory, immediately after a knock-out is generated. Knock-out fish
are immediately delivered to the requesters.
"ZF-MODELS - Zebrafish Models for Human Development and Disease" is an
Integrated Project funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the
European Commission. For further information please see the project
website <http://www.zf-models.org>.
