Extra model organisms

Question 1

Escherichia coli

Answer 1

Prokaryote - evolution (Richard Lenkings)

Question 2

Bacillus subtilis

Answer 2

Prokaryote - sporulation and resistance

Question 3

Caulobacter crescentus

Answer 3

Prokaryote - cell differentiation & ‘decision’ making

Question 4

Mycoplasma genitalium

Answer 4

Prokaryote - small genome & synthetic life

Question 5

Aliivibrio fisheri

Answer 5

Prokayote - bioluminescence, animal-bacterial symbiosis

Question 6

Synechocystis

Answer 6

Prokaryote - photosynthesis

Question 7

Pseudomonas fluorescens

Answer 7

Prokaryote - comparison of diversified lab strains

Question 8

Chlamydomonas reinhardti

Answer 8

Protista - a unicellular green alga used to study photosynthesis, flagella and motility, regulation of metabolism, cell-cell recognition and adhesion, response to nutrient deprivation and many other topics

Question 9

Dictyostelium discoideum

Answer 9

Protista - slime mold, used in molecular biology and genetics studied as an example of cell communication, differentiation, and programmed cell death

Question 10

Tetrahymena thermophila

Answer 10

Protista - a free living freshwater ciliate protozoan, used for fundamental functional genomics

Question 11

Choanoflagellate species

Answer 11

Protista - closest single-cell relatives of animals

Question 12

Aspergillus nidulans

Answer 12

Fungi - subject of genetic studies into metabolism & DNA repair has the interesting genetic features of 3 life cycles

Question 13

Neurospora crassa

Answer 13

Fungi - genetic studies of meiosis, metabolic regulation, circadian rhythms (Beadle and Tatum)

Question 14

Ustilagomaydis maydis

Answer 14

Fungi - used to study plant disease, recombination, DNA repair, cell migration

Question 15

Zea mays

Answer 15

Plants - Maize – facilitated discovery of transposons

Question 16

Oryza sativa

Answer 16

Plants - rice; one of the smallest genomes of any cereal species

Question 17

Medicago truncatula

Answer 17

Plants - model legume, symbiosis responsible for nitrogen fixation

Question 18

Tobacco BY-2 cells

Answer 18

Plants - suspension cell line from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)
general plant physiology studies on cellular level

Question 19

Physcomitrella patens

Answer 19

Plants - non-vascular (“primitive”) plant with its genome completely sequenced
Evolution

Question 20

Populus

Answer 20

Plants - model in forest genetics and woody plant studies

Question 21

Hydra (genus)

Answer 21

Invertebrates - Cnidarian

to understand the evolution of animal&bilaterian body plans

Question 22

Euprymna scolopes

Answer 22

Invertebrates - Hawaiian bobtail squid model for animal-bacteria symbiosis, bioluminescent vibrios

Question 23

Pristionchus pacificus

Answer 23

Invertebrates - roundworm

used in evolutionary developmental biology & comparative analyses with C. elegans

Question 24

Symsagittifera roscoffensis

Answer 24

Invertebrates - flatworm

studies of bilaterian body plan development

Question 25

Tribolium castaneum

Answer 25

Invertebrates - flour beetle | used especially in behavioral ecology & as a developmental model

Question 26

Sea urchin

Answer 26

Invertebrates - classical subject of embryological studies

Question 27

Aplysia

Answer 27

Invertebrates - sea slug ink release and siphon withdrawal response: model in neurobiology growth cones: model of cytoskeletal rearrangement

Question 28

Branchiostoma lanceolatum

Answer 28

Invertebrates – non-vertebrate chordates - Cephalochordata (also: Amphioxus or lancelet) model for chorda development

Question 29

Ciona intestinalis

Answer 29

Invertebrates – non-vertebrate chordates - Urochordata – Tunicata Model for nervous system development & metamorphosis

Question 30

Oryzias latipes

Answer 30

Vertebrates - fish - medaka - Asian model

Question 31

Nothobranchius furzeri

Answer 31

Vertebrates - fish - killifish - very short-lives, model for aging

Question 32

Takifugu rubripes

Answer 32

Vertebrates - fish - Puffer fish, has the smallest vertebrate genome

Question 33

Xenopus laevis

Answer 33

Vertebrates - amphibians - developmental biology, have giant embryos and high tolerance for physical and pharmacological manipulation, limited DNA annotations

Question 34

Gallus gallus domesticus

Answer 34

Vertebrates - birds - developmental studies: amniote excellent for micromanipulation (e.g. tissue grafting) and overexpression of gene products

Question 35

Taeniopygia guttata

Answer 35

Vertebrates - birds - zebra finch study of the song system of songbirds study of non-mammalian auditory systems, memory and learning

Question 36

Cavius porcellus

Answer 36

Vertebrates - mammals - the guinea pig used by Robert Koch and other early bacteriologists as a host for bacterial infections, even though rarely used today

Question 37

Sigmodon hispidus

Answer 37

Vertebrates - mammals - cotton rat | formerly used in polio research

Question 38

Hamster

Answer 38

Vertebrates - mammals - first used to study kala-azar (leishmaniasis)

Question 39

Canis lupus familiaris

Answer 39

Vertebrates - mammals - dog | an important respiratory and cardiovascular model

Question 40

Rhesus macaque

Answer 40

Vertebrates - mammals - used for studies on infectious disease and cognition