DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Dorsal/Ventral Patterning of the Snail Nassarius (llyanassa) obsoleta

后生动物的形态多样性与动物胚胎形成模式的一组基因明显缺乏多样性形成了鲜明对比。这种悖论--相似的蛋白质产生不同的形态--引发了人们的期望，即这些基因的进化及其调控的进化可以产生形态上的新奇。对这些保守的发育调控途径的关注是在各种模式生物中发现这些基因的被动结果。PI现在有机会通过在更有意义的系统发育框架中提出有针对性的问题来测试由这个初始数据集产生的假设。PI将提出两种不同的实验方法，以解决某些使昆虫和脊椎动物胚胎形成模式的分子机制是否在软体动物胚胎中起作用的问题。后生动物胚胎模式基因之间经常被注意到的相似性主要是基于2-3个分类群的数据。软体动物在系统发育上与“模式胚胎”相距甚远，因此PI发现的相似性和差异性应该会丰富关于这些模式形成机制的进化史的假说。

The morphological diversity of metazoans contrasts with an apparent lack of diversity in the set of genes that pattern animal embryos. This paradox-that similar proteins produce different morphologies-has generated the expectation that the evolution of these genes, and the evolution of their regulation, can generate morphological novelty. The attention to these conserved developmental regulatory pathways arose as a passive consequence of the discovery of these genes in various model organisms. The PIs now have the opportunity to test the hypotheses generated by this initial data set by asking directed questions in a more meaningful phylogenetic framework. The PI will propose two separate experimental approaches to address the question of whether certain molecular mechanisms that pattern insect and vertebrate embryos operate in the molluscan embryo. The oft-noted similarity between embryonic patterning genes across the Metazoa is mostly based on data from 2-3 taxa. The molluscs are phylogenetically distant from the "model embryos" and so the similarities and differences that the PIs find should enrich hypotheses about the evolutionary history of these patterning mechanisms.