Molecular Determinants of Radial Body Organization in Echinoderms

9506855最近在理解动物体型发育的分子遗传学基础方面取得了巨大的进步。然而，随着这些突破，也带来了新的问题。特别是，许多模式基因的表达在形态上不同的动物中非常保守。雷博士建议研究棘皮动物中几个模式基因的表达、功能和进化。棘皮动物是一门高度修饰的放射状身体组织。他的分析将集中在那些在昆虫和脊椎动物中表达保守，但在放射状动物中可能被修改的基因。他将首先描述它们的时间、空间域和文字记录大小。在放射体发育过程中表达的基因将被选择用于在系统发育不同的棘皮动物之间进行详细的比较分析。这些数据将被用来重建在该门的起源和多样化过程中表达变化的进化历史。他将利用环境线索操纵成虫发育的时间，以检验这一门类中图案化基因表达的时间不是“硬连线”的假设。综上所述，这些研究将大大有助于我们理解在身体模式中起作用的基因的发育和进化意义。***

9506855 Wray Enormous strides have been made recently towards understanding the molecular genetic basis for body pattern development in animals. With the breakthroughs, however, have come new questions. In particular, the expression of many patterning genes is remarkably conserved among morphologically distinct animals. Dr. Wray proposes to examine the expression, function, and evolution of several patterning genes in echinoderms, a phylum with a highly modified, radial body organization. His analysis will focus on genes whose expression is conserved in insects and vertebrates, but likely to be modified in radial animals. He will first characterize their timing, spatial domains, and transcript sizes. Genes expressed during radial body development will be selected for a detailed comparative analysis among phylogenetically diverse echinoderms. These data will be used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of expression changes during the origin and diversification of the phylum. He will manipulate the timing of adult development using environmental cues to test the hypothesis that the timing of patterning gene expression in this phylum is not "hardwired". Together, these studies will ad d considerably to our understanding of the developmental and evolutionary significance of genes with roles in body patterning. ***