Daphnia: the companion papers for the genome sequence

This thematic series of companion papers constituted the initial exploration of the genome biology of the waterflea (Daphnia), building on the first complete crustacean genome sequence. This series included contributions from members of the DaphniaGenomics Consortium. Daphnia is a versatile model system to investigate fundamental mechanisms of inheritance and development, cellular function, physiological systems, immunity response, disease, macromolecular structure/function relationships and the genetic basis of complex phenotypic traits. An extensive literature documenting physiological and ecological diversity make Daphnia an ideal model to study the genetic architecture of phenotypic variation in natural populations and the evolution of genome structure/function relationships in aquatic environments.