This web site is the home of the Sea Urchin Genome Database. The first release in Spring 2008 contains the sequence data from the latest genomic assembly and the accumulation of annotations prepared for the initial genome publications. Useful information from the old SUGP web site and data collections are included here. This web site supercedes the Sea Urchin Genome Project, a web site that included a set of research materials and information assembled to support genome level activities in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and allied species. These organisms are primarily used as research models in developmental biology, cell biology, gene regulation molecular biology, evolutionary biology, metabolic biochemistry and marine biology. All curated sequences are posted to Genbank at NCBI. ... [Information of the supplier]
Echinoids are a major group of marine invertebrates with a long fossil record. If you know nothing about the group the obvious place to start is at the Introduction. Here you will find some basic facts about how echinoids live, feed and reproduce. Information presented here is very non-technical and is designed for the casual visitor with no biological training. The section entitled Morphology and morphological terms will be most useful to the serious amateur, undergraduate or those just beginning to get into the scientific literature who need some guidance with the formidable array of technical terms. Here you will find illustrations of the more commonly employed descriptive terms applied to echinoids. The primary purpose of the site, however, is to provide a taxonomic resource for the scientific community in which the genera and higher taxa of echinoid can be simply and rapidly identified. There are currently over 1500 pages of detailed information about echinoid taxa. Here no holds are barred and technical terms abound. A reasonable grasp of echinoid morphology is assumed and these pages will be of most use to professional scientists and advanced researchers. For each genus information is given about the type species, the key diagnostic characters, its stratigraphical and geographical distribution, species currently assigned with confidence (not by any means exhaustive), and remarks about recent scientific publications dealing with this taxon. Wherever possible high-quality images are provided of specimens in oral, aboral and lateral views. ... [Information of the supplier]
