Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Water flea genome offers revolution in toxicity testing

Nature (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

DNA sequence of Daphnia could help scientists to probe the environment and test chemicals.

The genome of the water flea Daphnia pulex has been sequenced for the first time. Its DNA code contains the largest number of genes ever recorded for a multicellular animal, and could help boost efforts to test the toxicity of chemicals or environmental pollutants without the need for experiments on rats or mice.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Colbourne, J. K. et al. Science 331, 555-561 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Collins, F. S., Gray, G. M. & Bucher, J. R. et al. Science 319, 906-907 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Virginia Gewin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Heredity: Ecological genomics in Daphnia

Related external links

Daphnia Genomics Consortium

REACH programme

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gewin, V. Water flea genome offers revolution in toxicity testing. Nature (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2011.71

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2011.71

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing