Phylogenetic Utility of Rapidly Evolving Mammalian Reproductive Proteins

滨江的加州大学的约翰·盖茨博士获得了一笔赠款，用于研究哺乳动物生殖蛋白基因的进化。最近，在几种哺乳动物中发现了对受精很重要的“生殖蛋白”。 初步研究表明，这些蛋白质中的许多蛋白质，包括卵子和精子特异性蛋白质，都以快速的速度进化。 在这项拟议的研究中，现代分子技术将被用来调查生殖蛋白基因序列从几个物种的偶数趾有蹄类哺乳动物。 这些数据将用于更好地表征哺乳动物生殖蛋白的分子进化模式，以确定这些分子的哪些区域容易发生突变，并测试生殖蛋白是否可用于重建哺乳动物的进化历史。Gatesy博士将在这个多学科项目的背景下指导加州大学滨江分校的本科生团队。除了在湿实验室获得第一手经验，学生将他们的实验室工作与图书馆研究和计算机分析相结合。 合并后的研究小组将通过在遗传水平上探索生殖（进化生物学的基础），产生与不同生物学分支学科相关的基本数据。 对生殖蛋白的详细了解对于人类生育和不育的研究也很重要。 本研究中使用的一些种属（牛、绵羊、山羊）是生育力研究的标准模式生物。 比较分析这些物种和近亲的生殖分子将有助于生殖的实验研究。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. John Gatesy at the University of California, Riverside to study the evolution of reproductive protein genes in mammals. Recently, "reproductive proteins" that are important for fertilization have been characterized in several mammalian species. Preliminary studies suggest that many of these proteins, both egg and sperm-specific, have evolved at a rapid rate. In this proposed research, modern molecular techniques will be used to survey reproductive protein gene sequences from several species of even-toed hoofed mammals. These data will be used to better characterize the pattern of molecular evolution in mammalian reproductive proteins, to determine which regions of these molecules are prone to mutation, and to test whether reproductive proteins are useful for reconstructing the evolutionary history of mammals. Dr. Gatesy will mentor teams of undergraduate students at the University of California, Riverside within the context of this multidisciplinary project. In addition to getting first-hand experience in a wet lab, the students will integrate their laboratory work with library research and computer analysis. The combined research group will produce basic data that are relevant to diverse biological sub-disciplines by exploring reproduction, a foundation of evolutionary biology, at the genetic level. A detailed understanding of reproductive proteins also is important for studies of human fertility and infertility. Some of the species utilized in this study (cow, sheep, goat) are standard model organisms for fertility research. Comparative analyses of reproductive molecules from these species and close relatives will facilitate experimental research on reproduction.