The Evolution of Modularity in the Dentition of Old World Monkeys

旧大陆猴子牙列模块化的演变

• 批准号: 0616308
• 负责人: Leslea Hlusko
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0616308&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Evolution; Modularity; Dentition; Old; World

Two fundamental questions in biology concern the relationship between genes and anatomy. How does the genotype effect the phenotype? And how has this relationship influenced morphological evolution as seen through the fossil record? In this project, the investigators will test hypotheses about genetic correlations and investigate how these correlations evolved through time. This project focuses on dentition in a model organism that is the most pragmatic from a genetic and paleontological standpoint -- baboons. Through a previous NSF grant, the investigators identified and quantified genetic variances and covariances among more than 200 traits in the dentitions of an outbred population of pedigreed breeding baboons housed at the Southwest National Primate Research Center in Texas. They now will test to see if these correlations are maintained across closely related primate taxa both synchronically (across extant Old World Monkeys, relying on museum skeletal collections) and diachronically (through the last 15 million years of Old World Monkey evolution, using three fossil assemblages recently recovered in Kenya and Ethiopia). If the correlations between dental traits, identified through quantitative genetic analyses, do demonstrate a reliable stability across species, genera, and time, then they will provide the foundation for better phylogenetic reconstructions as well as elucidate the evolution of the molecular genetics of the primate dentition.This project is possible because of the increasingly integrative nature of biological research. The investigators combine the seemingly disparate fields of paleontology and quantitative genetics to better understand the genetic and evolutionary forces that have shaped the dentition. The approach is based on sound and demonstrated quantitative genetic theory that has been successful in other applications. The dentition is an ideal anatomical region on which to test these hypotheses due to the larger genetic component to its variation relative to the rest of the skeleton, the advances in dental developmental genetics over the last decade, and the fact that teeth are the most frequently preserved elements in the fossil record. Baboons provide one of the most useful animal models because of their relatively conserved dental anatomy (compared to the derived dentitions of mice, for example). A fairly well documented and well-studied fossil record exists of their evolution over the last 15 million years in eastern Africa.In addition to the research itself, this project will increase diversity, training, and collaboration within the biological sciences. Funding, in part, is designated for a post-doctoral researcher's support. This person will be a specialist in statistics, who will then be trained in osteology and paleontology, or the contrary, a specialist in the latter disciplines who will be trained in the former. In addition to advancing the principal investigator's scientific career, a woman, a graduate student, and numerous undergraduates will be part of this project, thereby providing numerous educational opportunities. Scientists affiliated with over 12 research institutions are collaborating on this project. This collaboration will increase ties between these scientists and institutions, including public, private, and foreign universities, a biomedical research facility, a national primate research center, and numerous museums. The postdoctoral scientist and students will have significant opportunities to travel domestically and internationally, establishing professional contacts and relationships that will contribute significantly to their academic development. The highly collaborative nature of this project provides the ideal forum through which other integrative research ideas will be generated.

生物学中的两个基本问题涉及基因和解剖学之间的关系。基因型如何影响表型？从化石记录来看，这种关系是如何影响形态进化的？在这个项目中，研究人员将测试有关遗传相关性的假设，并调查这些相关性是如何随着时间的推移而演变的。该项目侧重于从遗传学和古生物学的角度来看最实用的模式生物-狒狒的牙列。在美国国家科学基金会之前的资助下，研究人员在德克萨斯州西南国家灵长类动物研究中心的一个纯种繁殖狒狒的近亲繁殖种群中，确定并量化了200多个特征的遗传变异和协方差。他们现在将测试这些相关性是否在密切相关的灵长类类群中保持同步（通过现存的旧大陆猴子，依靠博物馆的骨骼收藏）和历时（通过最近在肯尼亚和埃塞俄比亚发现的三个化石组合，通过过去1500万年的旧大陆猴子进化）。如果通过定量遗传分析确定的牙齿特征之间的相关性确实表现出跨物种、属和时间的可靠稳定性，那么它们将为更好的系统发育重建提供基础，并阐明灵长类动物牙齿的分子遗传学进化。这个项目之所以成为可能，是因为生物研究的综合性日益增强。研究人员将古生物学和定量遗传学这两个看似不同的领域结合起来，以更好地了解形成牙齿的遗传和进化力量。该方法基于在其他应用中取得成功的可靠的、已被证明的定量遗传理论。牙列是检验这些假设的理想解剖区域，因为牙列相对于骨骼其他部分的变异具有更大的遗传成分，过去十年来牙齿发育遗传学的进步，以及牙齿是化石记录中保存最频繁的元素这一事实。狒狒提供了最有用的动物模型之一，因为它们的牙齿解剖结构相对保守（例如，与小鼠的衍生牙齿相比）。在过去的一千五百万年里，它们在非洲东部的进化过程中存在着一份被充分记录和研究的化石记录。除了研究本身，该项目还将增加生物科学领域的多样性、培训和合作。部分资金被指定用于博士后研究人员的支持。这个人将是统计学方面的专家，然后接受骨科和古生物学方面的培训，或者相反，后者的专家将接受统计学方面的培训。除了推动首席研究员的科学事业，一名女性，一名研究生和许多本科生将成为这个项目的一部分，从而提供了许多教育机会。隶属于12个研究机构的科学家正在合作这个项目。这项合作将加强这些科学家和机构之间的联系，包括公立、私立和外国大学、一个生物医学研究机构、一个国家灵长类动物研究中心和众多博物馆。博士后科学家和学生将有大量的机会在国内和国际旅行，建立专业联系和关系，这将对他们的学术发展做出重大贡献。这个项目的高度合作性质提供了一个理想的论坛，通过这个论坛，其他的综合研究想法将会产生。