The zebrafish danio rerio has become an important vertebrate model organism for a wide range of scientific research questions including development, genetics, and disease. A model organism is a nonhuman species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Danio rerio zebrafish is an elective model organism for the study of vertebrate development because of its high degree of homology with human genes and organs, including bone. The zebrafish as a model for gastrointestinal tracta. Zebrafish are being increasingly used as a model organism to study vertebrate hematopoiesis. Zebrafish as a model for angiogenesis research while the models described above have provided essential information and platforms for discovery of therapeutic targets and drugs, many questions about the biology of vascular cells and how they. The zebrafish has proven to be a powerful organism for studies in this area owing to its amenability to largescale genetic and chemical screening.
Here, we define the characteristics that a fish species should have to serve as a model for finfish aquaculture research and argue that the zebrafish fulfils essentially most of them. Marrvel is a publicly available website that integrates information from six human genetic databases and seven model organism databases. Much new information and perspectives on the molecular mechanism of ovarian development have been obtained from these mutant zebrafish. The zebrafish is now a wellestablished model system whereas zebrafish research was. In addition to serving as a genetic model for many developmental disorders, zebrafish have also become a popular model for a variety of diseases. This provides insight into the genetic control of developmental processes in humans because their genomes are similar. The most widely studied prokaryotic model organism is escherichia coli e. Zebrafish studies in the past two decades have made major contributions to our understanding of hematopoiesis and its associated disorders. The zebrafish is a tropical fish native to southeast asia. Zebrafish as a cancer model harma feitsma and edwin cuppen hubrecht institute for developmental biology and stem cell research, utrecht, the netherlands abstract the zebrafish has developed into an important model organism for biomedical research over the last decades. The zebrafish danio rerio animal model offers a unique opportunity to discover and study novel genes required for the control of normal vertebrate haematopoiesis. Zebrafish embryos, because of the optical clarity, small size, and fast development, can be easily used in largescale mutagenesis experiments to isolate mutants with developmental skeletal defects and in. The zebrafish as a model organism for the study of. The zebrafish as a model for cancer disease models.
Scientists use a variety of laboratory techniques to investigate the genetic cause of human diseases. The timing of the adoption of zebrafish as an emerging model organism could not be better, as mouse studies often fail to translate to humans. Zebrafish as a model for angiogenesis research while the models described above have provided essential information and platforms for discovery of therapeutic targets and drugs, many questions about the biology of vascular cells and how they build the circulatory system remain unresolved. Although no animal can perfectly model a human disease, i believe these little striped swimmers have great potential for advancing medical research in the future. The zebrafish danio rerio as a model organism, with. Dec 24, 2009 the zebrafish danio rerio is a powerful vertebrate model organism that has been extensively used to study apoptotic cell death during normal development and under conditions of cellular stress. Feb 26, 2019 please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report. Zebrafish danio rerio is emerging as an increasingly successful model for translational research on human neurological disorders. Zebrafish as a developmental model organism for pediatric. The behaviour and ecology of the zebrafish, danio rerio rowena spence1. Mar 08, 2016 zebrafish as a model for angiogenesis research while the models described above have provided essential information and platforms for discovery of therapeutic targets and drugs, many questions about the biology of vascular cells and how they build the circulatory system remain unresolved. By combining stateoftheart genetic and genomic technologies, the. The use of zebrafish danio rerio as a model organism began in the 1960s.
The zebrafish danio rerio is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family of the order cypriniformes. The answer is quite simply that zebrafish are an excellent vertebrate model organism and here are some reasons why. The zebrafish offers a number of features, such as its rapid development, tractable genetics, suitability for in vivo imaging and chemical screening, that make it an attractive model to cancer researchers. The zebrafish, danio rerio, has emerged as an enormously powerful model organism for biomedical translational research over recent years. Zebrafish as a model organism for blood diseases berman. One limitation of zebrafish as a model organism to study human diseases is that comparatively few mutant strains are available. The zebrafish information network zfin is the database of genetic and genomic data for the zebrafish danio rerio as a model organism. Classically, the zebrafish model organism has been used to elucidate the genetic and cellular mechanisms related to development since the embryo forms and grows externally following fertilization. Zebrafish entered the field at a time when many molecular biology techniques including mutagenesis. The zebrafish danio rerio is a freshwater teleost of the family cyprinidae that is established as a model organism in many research fields. The zebrafish genome has been fully sequenced, which is a musthave for model organisms nowadays.
Introduction 1 the zebrafish as a model organism the zebrafish, danio rerio hamilton, is one of the most important vertebrate model organisms in genetics, developmental biology, neurophysiology and biomedicine. Zebrafish genome contains numerous duplicate genes milan dj et al, 2003 and this feature often hinders the generation of knockout strains, as approaches that disrupt one gene copy likely will not disrupt the second copy. As zebrafish eggs are fertilized and develop outside the mothers body it is an ideal model organism for studying early development. Jan 04, 2017 the zebrafish model organism database zfin. Advantages of using zebrafish as a model organism andor. The model organisms screening center mosc for the undiagnosed diseases network udn is composed of two centers that use fruit fly drosophila melanogaster, nematode worm caenorhabditis elegans and zebrafish danio rerio genetics and biology to tackle rare and undiagnosed diseases. Analysis of nup3 expression in zebrafish embryos by in situ mrna hybridization ish and. Zebrafish as a model for normal and malignant hematopoiesis.
Zfin provides a wide array of expertly curated, organized and crossreferenced zebrafish research data. Zfin curators provide expert manual curation and integration of comprehensive data involving zebrafish. The zebrafish remains a relatively underdeveloped model organism with large amounts of untapped potential. The zebrafish danio rerio is a powerful vertebrate model organism that has been extensively used to study apoptotic cell death during normal development and under conditions of cellular stress. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report. The zebrafish, danio rerio, is a fast expanding and extremely valuable model system for studying vertebrate developmental biology. This effort showed that their genome is remarkably similar to the human one, with at least 70% of human genes having a zebrafish equivalent a figure that is even higher when only diseasecausing genes are considered. Mar 25, 2015 the zebrafish is a premier model organism for biomedical research, with a rich array of tools and genomic resources, and combining these with a fuller appreciation of wild zebrafish ecology could greatly extend its utility in biological research. A comparison of common model organisms part 1 nemametrix. It is well suited for both developmental and genetic analysis. Danio rerio zebrafish the zebrafish is a widely used vertebrate model for development, it was first established as a useful model organism by george streisinger, zebrafish are as commonly used as rats and mice. In addition, the externally fertilized and transparent embryos allow convenient genetic manipulation.
Oct 15, 2012 zebrafish are earning their stripes as a model organism, giving scientists funded by the national institutes of health the opportunity to watch biological processes in action and apply their. Zebrafish has emerged as an excellent model system to study the control of ovarian development. Dozens of genes related to ovarian development have been knocked out in zebrafish in recent years. In the past 5 years, a detailed picture has begun to emerge of the molecular underpinnings of the cellintrinsic and the cellextrinsic apoptosis. Apoptosis plays important roles in embryogenesis, tissue homeostasis, and immune system regulation. Because its introduction as a modern experimental model organism. Nov 20, 2017 as zebrafish eggs are fertilized and develop outside the mothers body it is an ideal model organism for studying early development. As more is understood about the comparative genome, anatomy, and physiology of zebrafish to that of humans, the relevance and utility of this vertebrate model will only grow and provide a powerful complement to the murine system. In the past 5 years, a detailed picture has begun to emerge of the molecular. It is a common, gramnegative gut bacterium which can be grown and cultured easily and inexpensively in a laboratory setting. While mice and rats have been common choices for modeling human diseases in the past, the use of zebrafish. Zebrafish are earning their stripes as a model organism, giving scientists funded by the national institutes of health the opportunity to watch biological processes in action and apply their. Apr 23, 2014 the zebrafish has become a powerful model species for studying vertebrate development because females lay transparent eggs, allowing direct examination of the embryo in real time as it grows.
First used in the 1960s in biological research, zebrafish have proven to be excellent model organisms for developmental and disease studies. The use of zebrafish as a model organism was pioneered to overcome some of the difficulties that plague other vertebrate model organisms such as in utero development, low offspring number, lack of genetic tractability, and high maintenance costs. Adult zebrafish are small in size, they grow quickly, and they breed readily. This primer will provide a synopsis of the different cancer models generated by the zebrafish community to date.
Also, unlike other animal models, the genes of zebrafish can be manipulated. This genetically tractable model has many appealing features, such as the ease of manipulation of transparent embryos and the capacity to carry out largescale genetic and chemical screens lieschke and currie, 2007. The zebrafish is a premier model organism for biomedical research, with a rich array of tools and genomic resources, and combining these with a fuller appreciation of wild zebrafish ecology could greatly extend its utility in biological research. The zebrafish as a model organism for the study of apoptosis. To this end, we created marrvel model organism aggregated resources for rare variant exploration.
Zebrafish as a model for studying ovarian development. In its larval stages it is transparent and as it matures to an adult it develops stripes. Advantages and limitations of the various systems in this section, we consider the strengths and limitations of several wellstudied model organisms with regard to the analysis of human genetic disorders see table 31. For any given variant or gene, marrvel displays information from omim, exac, clinvar, geno2mp, dgv, and decipher. This is largely due to significant homology with higher vertebrates, but also because of the opportunities for genetic manipulation and in vivo imaging. The zebrafish has become a powerful model species for studying vertebrate development because females lay transparent eggs, allowing direct examination of the embryo in real time as it grows. The zebrafish is particularly well suited for this research due to its small size, rapid development, short generation time, optical transparency of embryos and larvae as well as functional conservation of genes. The zebrafish model has recently emerged as a significant experimental system for developmental biology studies. The most wellknown of these models is the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster, but in the last fifteen years the zebrafish has been increasing in recognition.
Zebrafish as a cancer model molecular cancer research. Model organisms are drawn from all three domains of life, as well as viruses. Research often utilizes patients cells or tissue samples, but to determine if a mutation in a specific gene can cause a patients symptoms, we often need experimental animal models. The behaviour and ecology of the zebrafish, danio rerio. Native to south asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio and thus often called a tropical fish although both tropical and subtropical the zebrafish is an important and widely used vertebrate model organism in scientific research, for. Danio rerio zebrafish is an excellent model organism for cnv studies. The same traits that make zebrafish popular pets also make them good model organisms.
Model organisms are beloved by researchers investigating developmental biology, the progression of an organism from a fertilised egg into an adult. The zebrafish is a widely used vertebrate model for development, it was first established as a useful model organism by george streisinger, zebrafish are as commonly used as rats and mice. Zebrafish as an emerging model organism to study angiogenesis. The zebrafish is an important model organism in developmental genetics, neurophysiology and biomedicine, but little is known about its natural ecology and. In its larval stages it is transparent and as it matures to an adult it develops stripes that run along the length of the body and look blue in colour. Pdf the zebrafish as a model organism to study development. Studies involving zebrafish have been important in many fields of research including oncology, regeneration and particularly embryonic development.
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