U.S.-Argentina Cooperative Research on Systematics of the American Marsupials Using Single-copy DNA-DNA Hybridization

美国-阿根廷利用单拷贝 DNA-DNA 杂交对美洲有袋动物系统学进行合作研究

• 批准号: 8701879
• 负责人: John Kirsch
• 金额: $ 2.3万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1987
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1987-08-15 至 1990-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8701879&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: U.S.; Argentina; Cooperative; Research; Systematics

This award supports the participation of Prof. John A. W. Kirsch of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a program of cooperative research with Prof. Osvaldo Reig of the University of Buenos Aires aimed at using the latest techniques of biochemistry and genetic analysis to clarify the taxonomies of sister-group relationships among various marsupials. An additional object of this research is to test the proposition that the average rate of evolution in DNA is both regular and the same in mammals as in birds. Determining the taxonomies among the major groups of marsupials can be of great use, first in understanding processes of evolution and, eventually, in obtaining a complete description of the sequence of evolution in both marsupials and in man. It is believed that biochemical signatures--e.g., genomes--evolve as regular functions of time and therefore, each of different lines derived from a common ancestor evolves at the same rate. Given this evolution, the amount of divergence between any two lines will be proportional to the time elapsed since their most recent common ancestor, and the sequence of branching points among all lines may be accurately reconstructed. The researchers involved in this project will use single-copy DNA-DNA hybridization, a relatively simple technique of comparing the DNA from two species, in order to assess the magnitude of DNA complementarity. Genetic variability will be analyzed using electrophoretic techniques, and chromosomal development will be studied using direct chromosome-chromosome comparison techniques. The U.S. investigators are expert in hybridization studies, while their Argentinian collaborators will perform the remainder of the analytical studies; both groups will be involved in the collection of sample material in Argentina and the U.S. Verification that structural genes evolve in a predictable fashion with time would be important in demonstrating that the degree of chemical similarity among organisms is proportional to their "relatedness"--or degree of common ancestry--and a biochemically based time-developing sequence of evolutionary branching points from common ancestors should become possible based upon this theory.

该奖项支持威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的John a . W. Kirsch教授与布宜诺斯艾利斯大学的Osvaldo Reig教授的合作研究项目，该项目旨在利用最新的生物化学和遗传分析技术来阐明各种有袋动物之间姐妹群关系的分类。这项研究的另一个目的是验证一个命题，即哺乳动物和鸟类的DNA平均进化速度是规律的，而且是相同的。确定有袋动物的主要类群的分类是很有用的，首先是为了理解进化的过程，最后是为了获得有袋动物和人类进化序列的完整描述。据信，生物化学特征——例如；基因组——进化为时间的规则函数，因此，来自共同祖先的每一个不同的品系都以相同的速度进化。考虑到这种进化，任何两条线之间的分歧量将与它们最近的共同祖先所经过的时间成正比，并且所有线之间的分支点序列可以精确地重建。参与该项目的研究人员将使用单拷贝DNA-DNA杂交，这是一种比较两个物种DNA的相对简单的技术，以评估DNA互补性的大小。遗传变异将使用电泳技术进行分析，染色体发育将使用直接染色体-染色体比较技术进行研究。美国研究人员是杂交研究方面的专家，而他们的阿根廷合作者将进行剩余的分析研究；这两个小组都将参与在阿根廷和美国收集样本材料。验证结构基因随时间以可预测的方式进化，对于证明生物之间的化学相似性程度与它们的“亲缘关系”（或共同祖先的程度）和基于生物化学的时间发展序列成正比是很重要的基于这一理论，共同祖先的进化分支点应该成为可能。