Lymnaea.org

Homepage of the Lymnaea stagnalis Sequencing Consortium

The freshwater large pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis (Mollusca, Pulmonata, Basommatophora, Lymnaeidae) has been a very useful model for studies in molecular, cellular, developmental and behavioral neurobiology, especially in the field of neuronal regeneration of the central nervous system, synapse formation and synaptic plasticity. It offers large and individually identifiable neurons. Decades of a wide spectrum of research has yielded profound insights in the working mechanisms of the neuronal networks controlling feeding, respiration, locomotion, and reproduction. These networks have been mapped electrophysiologically, biochemically and behaviorally. Currently ~30 laboratories use Lymnaea stagnalis as a model for independent research, generating ~1500 publications from 1986 to 2006. A serious drawback in the molecular analysis of Lymnaea stagnalis and related mollusks has been the lack of adequate genomic information, thereby limiting the usage of this unique model largely beyond its potential.

Our Lymnaea sequencing consortium has completed a pilot sequencing project of a normalized cDNA library constructed from a Central Nervous System (CNS) regeneration model of Lymnaea stagnalis since 2006. This website constitute a cDNA sequencing database, and is complemented by the recent sequencing of the Lymnaea stagnalis genome. We believe that our initiatives will benefit not only the neuroscience community, but also comparative and evolutionary biology, marine biology and the pharmaceutical industry.

Please contact us if you are interested in the sequencing project. Thank you.