Dissertation Research:Identifying Genetic Mechanisms of Dental Variation in Anthropoid Primates

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This project investigates the evolution of primate teeth using a novel integration of paleontology and genetics. Dental traits (characteristics) will be measured for 300 animals from a colony of 3,000 baboons housed at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Texas. We will investigate dental traits known from the fossil record of baboons as well as new ones identified through the study of tooth development. Family trees are kept for the Southwest Foundation baboons, so that we know each individual's mother, father, siblings, etc. Inheritance patterns of the dental traits will be determined using the pedigree data and probability tests. This analysis will identify traits that are linked to others and those that have a strong genetic signal. Traits that appear to follow a clear genetic inheritance pattern will then be tested, again using probability theory, to determine if particular ones correlate with particular regions of the genome. This is possible, since genome maps have been made for 700 of the animals. Using this method, we may be able to pinpoint regions of the genome that contain genes involved in tooth development. This is the first project to attempt to identify genes acting on tooth development using information from teeth themselves. Results from this study will give us a better understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying traits seen in the fossil record and may ultimately lead to the identification of genes that play a large role in tooth development in humans as well as non-human primates.