Evolvability and Constraint in Fly Wings

这个项目使用果蝇（果蝇）来研究基因是如何相互作用的。果蝇将被选择性地培育，以改变其翅膀形状的特定方面，然后研究揭示负责翅膀形状的基因如何相互作用。首先，选择改变机翼的某些方面，同时约束其他方面。比较受约束和不受约束的种群将有助于估计遗传多效性（当单个基因影响多个性状时）。其次，实验将在不同翅膀形状的苍蝇种群之间移植基因。比较这些移植的影响将使我们能够估计遗传上位性（特定基因的影响如何依赖于其他存在的基因）。最后，该项目测试和研究了上位性的一个新的数学模型及其对进化生物学的影响。虽然已知多效性和上位性是常见的，但它们的性质却知之甚少。这些实验将是第一批仔细研究这些遗传因素的性质和程度的实验。了解这些因素有可能极大地影响研究遗传相互作用的所有领域，包括医学和牲畜育种。这些数据将主要由佛罗里达州立大学来自不同种族和经济背景的本科生收集。

This project uses Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to investigate how genes interact with one another. Flies will be selectively bred to change specific aspects of the shape of their wings then studied to reveal how the genes responsible for wing shape interact. First, selection to change some wing aspects while constraining others will be conducted. Comparing the constrained and non-constrained populations will allow estimation of genetic pleiotropy (when single genes influence several traits). Second, experiments will transplant genes between fly populations with different wing shapes. Comparing the effects of these transplants will allow us to estimate the genetic epistasis (how the effects of a particular gene depend on other genes present). Finally, the project tests and investigates a new mathematical model of epistasis and it's implications for evolutionary biology.While pleiotropy and epistasis are known to be common, their properties are poorly understood. These experiments will be among the first to carefully investigate the nature and magnitude of these genetic factors. Understanding these factors has the potential to greatly impact all fields studying genetic interactions, including medicine and livestock breeding. The data will be gathered largely by undergraduate students from the ethnically and economically diverse population of Florida State University.