NIF Data Spotlight: Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC)

For a number of reasons, the use of zebrafish in neuroscience research is steadily on the rise. At the Neuroscience Information Framework, we have recognized this trend and have active lines of communication with several zebrafish information providers. The Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) is the premier source for wild-type, mutant, and transgenic zebrafish strains as well as laboratory methods and husbandry techniques for zebrafish investigations.

NIF enables you to find a mutant zebrafish strain easily using gene specific search techniques. For example, clasp1 is a cytoplasmic linker protein involved in the regulation of microtubule dynamics, particularly in the brain and heart. Animal models with functional changes in clasp1 may be of interest to neuroscientists investigating synaptic changes that occur during LTP or other neurobiological aspects of learning and memory.



To focus our search to genes, we use the following search syntax “gene: clasp1” (shown above). This returns a number of results from across the NIF data federation, including Datasets and Antibodies. Results from ZIRC may be found under Animals > ZIRC: Zebrafish from which you are one click away from purchasing zebrafish and getting your aquatic laboratory up and running. For more information about ZIRC and NIF, please see our detailed tutorial.

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The NIF Data Spotlight is a weekly blog post highlighting the databases, information, and resources curated by the Neuroscience Information Framework. For comments, questions or concerns feel free to drop us a line at curation@neuinfo.org.