A recent study by Polinski et al. from the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute, with collaborators from several other institutions from the US, Canada and Russia sequenced almost the all the genes of The American lobster, Homarus americanus (capturing 72% of the entire genome). The research study published by the group reveals a first high quality draft of 25,284 predicted gene models. The researchers compared their sequence with seven other marine invertebrates—and found many examples in which groups of genes related to nerve cell function, immunity, genome integrity, and cell survival were repeated or expanded. This provides surprising insights about the Lobster’s immune system and genomic stability, cell survival, chemical defense represents varied types of defense mechanisms essential for the Lobster to survive in its environment. These findings may also throw light on many fundamental questions about human aging and diseases. Additional information can be found in the following articles.
- Polinski et al. Science Advances 23 Jun 2021: Vol. 7, no. 26, eabe8290 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe8290
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