Daniel Chourrout

Director General of the Sars Centre
Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology
Thormøhlensgt. 55
N-5008 Bergen, Norway
Group Homepage

Research in the Chourrout group is focused on the evolution of development in chordates, with specific interest in the tunicate lineages. The model organism is Oikopleura dioica, a pelagic tunicate which is cultivated in the lab over many successive and very short generations (4-5 days). The very small and compact genome of Oikopleura (70 Mb) has been sequenced and annotated in a collaboration with Genoscope, and proves to be highly derived for almost every feature examined. Derived features include the set of homeobox transcription factors, and in particular the Hox genes which are no longer in a cluster. The Chourrout group wishes to uncover the regulatory networks operating within three lineage-specific functions: Hox gene function, early patterning of the oikoplastic house-making epithelium, and genetic sex determination.