Acquisition of a Molecular Primatology DNA Analysis System

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，纽约大学人类学系的托德·迪索特尔博士和他的同事将购买ABI 3730 DNA分析系统和BioRad iCycler iQ实时PCR检测系统，沿着支持设备。这一仪器升级的主要特点是提高了数据积累的效率，并改进了可以解决的各种演变问题。该序列分析系统是最新一代高通量毛细管测序仪和基因分型仪，将成为该集团实验室项目中使用的主力数据采集仪器。它将允许以五倍于当前设备的速率积累序列数据，而成本不到一半。PCR检测系统将成为实验室越来越多地使用从考古材料、博物馆标本和生物碎屑（如头发或粪便）中回收的古老和降解DNA的核心。所有这些样本类型产生低质量和数量的DNA，但显然为解决这些来源的新问题提供了前所未有的希望。大部分辅助设备将用于人类学系DNA提取设施正在开发的一个新设施，包括PCR工作站罩和紫外线去污照明。Disotell的重点是catarrhine（旧大陆猴和猿）系统学，种群遗传学和保护遗传学。迪菲奥雷有类似的兴趣和项目涉及新世界的猴子。乔利与迪索特尔密切合作，研究涉及旧大陆猴子（尤其是狒狒）的种群遗传学和种群地理学。Di Fiore、Disotell和Jolly还使用分子技术来测试和发展有关灵长类动物行为、社会和交配系统以及传播模式的假设。安东将通过提供材料和假设来利用古代DNA进行测试，从而带来她在现代人类起源方面的专业知识。该仪器将极大地促进上述所有研究计划。许多本科生和纽约市地区的高中生在实验室进行他们的荣誉研究项目。来自纽约大学人类学和生物学系的实习生，霍华德休斯暑期研究员，哥伦比亚大学和纽约市立大学的研究生，他们是IGERT资助的纽约进化灵长类学联盟（NYCEP）的成员，以及外国同事和他们的学生与纽约大学教师一起培训和做研究项目。Anton指导的骨骼生物学和法医学硕士课程的实习生也将在分子设施中培训和开展研究项目。通过这种仪器收集的数据和正在测试的假设具有超越人类学领域的更广泛的影响。从高中到博士后水平的个人培训是我们研究和学术计划的一个同样重要的组成部分。在纽约大学进行的研究与生物医学研究（例如SIV/HIV病毒及其宿主物种的进化生物学）和应用保护工作（例如评估高度濒危物种的遗传变异，如巴西的狮面猴和西非的黑猩猩和大猩猩）有关。

With National Science Foundation Support, Dr. Todd Disotell and his colleagues in the New York University Department of Anthropology will purchase an ABI 3730 DNA Analysis System and a BioRad iCycler iQ Real-Time PCR Detection System, along with support equipment. The key features of this instrumentation upgrade are the improvement in efficiency of data accumulation and an improvement in the kinds of evolutionary questions which can be addressed. The sequence analysis system is the latest generation high throughput capillary sequencer and genotyper, which will become the workhorse data acquisition instrument used in the group's laboratory's projects. It will permit accumulation of sequence data at five times the rate possible with the current equipment at less than half of the cost. The PCR detection system will be central to the laboratory's increasing use of ancient and degraded DNA recovered from archaeological materials, museum specimens, and biological detritus such as hair or feces. All of these sample types yield low quality and quantity DNA but clearly provide an unprecedented promise for addressing novel questions from such sources. Much of the support equipment will be used in a new facility being developed in the Anthropology Department's DNA Extraction Facility, including PCR work-station hoods and UV decontamination lighting. Disotell's focus to date has been on catarrhine (Old World monkey and ape) systematics, population genetics, and conservation genetics. Di Fiore has similar interests and project involving New World monkeys. Jolly collaborates closely with Disotell in research involving population genetics and phylogeography of Old World monkeys, especially baboons. Di Fiore, Disotell, and Jolly also use molecular techniques to test and develop hypotheses about primate behavior, social and mating systems, and dispersal patterns. Anton will be bringing her expertise in modern human origins by supplying materials and hypotheses to be tested utilizing ancient DNA. This instrumenation will greatly facilitate all of the above research programs. Numerous undergraduates and New York City area high school students carry out their honors research projects in the laboratory. Interns from the Departments of Anthropology and Biology at NYU, Howard Hughes Summer Research Fellows, Columbia University and CUNY graduate students who are members of the IGERT funded New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), as well as foreign colleagues and their students train and do research projects in conjunction with the NYU faculty. Interns in the MA program in skeletal biology and forensics directed by Anton will also train and carry out research projects in the molecular facilities. The data collected by this instrumentation and hypotheses being tested have a broader impact beyond the field of anthropology. The training of individuals from high school through the post-doctoral level is an equally important component of our research and academic program. The research carried out at NYU ties in with biomedical research (e.g. evolutionary biology of the SIV/HIV viruses and their host species) and applied conservation efforts (e.g. assessing genetic variation in highly endangered species such as lion tamarins in Brazil and chimpanzees and gorillas in West Africa).