Dissertation Research: Developmental Bases of Anolis Limb Evolution

论文研究：安乐蜥肢体进化的发育基础

• 批准号: 0508696
• 负责人: James Cheverud
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-07-01 至 2007-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0508696&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Developmental; Bases; Anolis

Dissertation Research: The Developmental Bases of Anolis Limb EvolutionJeremy J. Gibson-Brown and Thomas J. SangerWashington University in Saint Louis In the past twenty years, advances in understanding of how developmental processes change over macroevolutionary time scales have greatly improved knowledge about the mechanisms and processes responsible for generating the world's biological diversity. Complementing the macroevolutionary approach with research focusing on historical and mechanistic studies, both within and between closely related species, will greatly enhance understanding of the processes underlying morphological evolution. Recent analytical and technical advances in the fields of evolutionary and developmental biology make this the perfect time to integrate these disciplines and to investigate the microevolutionary processes underlying morphologic change. Of particular interest are the relationships between developmental variability and evolutionary divergence. This relationship is important because a bias in the production of developmental variation could be viewed as facilitating or constraining evolutionary change, depending on the relationship between selection, and dimensions of greater or lesser variation, respectively. For their research Dr. Gibson-Brown and his student, Thomas Sanger, will take advantage of the well-studied ecomorphs of Anolis lizards on each island of the Greater Antilles: Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. They propose to study how developmental mechanisms have changed during the convergent evolution of lizard limb morphologies at multiple levels of the biological hierarchy (morphological, cellular, and molecular). They will specifically test the hypothesis that different species have evolved similar limb lengths using the same developmental mechanisms. To test this hypothesis their study is divided into three specific aims. They will first compare the relative growth of long-limbed and short-limbed species on each island to establish the time during development that limb length differences are determined. Using this information they will then examine the cellular mechanisms of bone growth at these times to compare the developmental mechanisms by which growth rates are changing. Finally, they will begin to identify the molecular mechanisms leading to differences in growth between species by examining genes thought to be differentially expressed in the growth plates. This will also be the first study to examine reptilian bone growth in over thirty years. This research has several broader impacts beyond the scope of this project. Dr. Gibson-Brown and Mr. Sanger actively support the participation of underrepresented minorities in this research project, including students and teachers. They incorporate several undergraduate research assistants each semester, some of whom conduct their own related research projects. Their work has also fostered collaborations between several biological disciplines and universities.

论文研究：Anolis肢体进化的发展基础Jeremy J. Gibson-Brown和托马斯J. Sanger华盛顿大学圣刘易斯 在过去的二十年里，在理解发展过程如何在宏观进化的时间尺度上发生变化方面取得的进展，大大提高了对产生世界生物多样性的机制和过程的认识。补充宏观进化的方法与研究的重点是历史和机制的研究，无论是在内部和密切相关的物种之间，将大大提高形态进化的过程的理解。 进化和发育生物学领域的最新分析和技术进展使这成为整合这些学科和研究形态变化背后的微进化过程的最佳时机。 特别令人感兴趣的是发育变异性和进化分歧之间的关系。这种关系很重要，因为在产生发育变异的过程中的偏差可以被视为促进或限制进化变化，这分别取决于选择与更大或更小变异的维度之间的关系。 为了进行研究，吉布森-布朗博士和他的学生托马斯桑格将利用大安的列斯群岛上古巴、伊斯帕尼奥拉岛、牙买加和波多黎各等岛屿上已被充分研究过的阿诺利斯蜥蜴的生态形态。 他们建议研究在生物层次结构（形态，细胞和分子）的多个层次上蜥蜴肢体形态的趋同进化过程中，发育机制是如何变化的。 他们将专门测试不同物种使用相同的发育机制进化出相似肢体长度的假设。为了验证这一假设，他们的研究分为三个具体目标。 他们将首先比较每个岛屿上长肢和短肢物种的相对生长，以确定肢体长度差异在发育过程中的时间。 利用这些信息，他们将研究这些时间骨生长的细胞机制，以比较生长速率变化的发育机制。 最后，他们将开始通过检查被认为在生长板中差异表达的基因来确定导致物种之间生长差异的分子机制。 这也将是三十多年来首次研究爬行动物骨骼生长的研究。 这项研究有几个更广泛的影响超出了这个项目的范围。 Gibson-Brown博士和桑格先生积极支持代表性不足的少数群体参与这一研究项目，包括学生和教师。他们每学期都有几名本科生研究助理，其中一些人进行自己的相关研究项目。他们的工作还促进了几个生物学科和大学之间的合作。