The genome of Calanus finmarchicus is about two times the size of the human genome (www.genomesize.com), and is to date not well characterized. Also very few RNA/cDNA sequences were available in January 2005 (5 sequences in GenBank). Dr. David Towle at MDIBL  in Maine, USA, have recently uploaded about 10 000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to GenBank. We have also contributed by adding EST sequences from our first Calanus EST library recently.

We will continue to sequence ESTs from whole copepod RNA extracts and develop assays for determining gene expression on relevant genes by quantitatitve RT-PCR. These assays will be included and used as biomarkers in the effects assessment of environmental toxicants.