Evolution of Developmental Gene Regulatory Networks

为了理解进化，责任止于DNA，因为拥有共同祖先的物种之间的不同特征遗传地编码在它们不同的DNA基因组中。戴维森实验室设计了一些实验，以确定在特定的进化案例中到底发生了什么，这些实验可以在DNA水平上进行实验分析。他们认为，最有趣的进化特征是那些控制身体计划发展的特征，尽管人们对进化挥手致意，但很少有人可以直接将S的手指放在导致特定差异的序列上。他们还提出，这些差异几乎总是存在于模块控制序列中，这些控制序列具体决定了基因在哪里、何时和如何强烈地表达，以响应细胞调节状态。戴维森实验室将专注于培育海胆和海星，它们在大约5亿年前有一个共同的祖先，它们的发育控制系统包括几个案例，比较发现相同的基因在做非常不同的事情。这种不同的调控导致了两种胚胎，在某些方面，它们在形式和功能上完全不同。戴维森实验室已经开发出这项技术，以发现这些控制系统中重要的差异，并通过实验将它们相互转换。进化的基本知识不仅是在机械水平上理解我们自己和所有其他动物的生物学的基础，而且还将有巨大的实际回报。进化是我们改变基因组控制系统的唯一天然实验室。为了将这些系统重新设计用于治疗或其他良性目的，将需要我们学习这些系统中允许和禁止改变的规则。戴维森实验室通过开发新的方法和技术，以及在解开发育过程中的基因调控电路方面的开创性工作，对发育生物学社区产生了重大而广泛的影响。该实验室还拥有良好的学生培训记录，并参与了加州理工大学的S本科生暑期冲浪项目。

To understand evolution the buck stops at the DNA, since the characters that differ between species that have a common ancestor are heritably encoded in their different DNA genomes. The Davidson laboratory has designed experiments to determine what really happened in a specific case of evolution that can be analyzed experimentally at the DNA level. They argue that the most interesting evolutionary features are those that control development of the body plan and that while there is much hand-waving about evolution, there are few cases where one can put one''s finger directly on the sequences that cause specific differences. They also propose that these differences are almost always in the modular control sequences that specifically determine where, when and how intensely genes are expressed in response to cellular regulatory state. The Davidson laboratory will focus on developing sea urchins and sea stars, which had a common ancestor about a half billion years ago and whose developmental control systems include several cases where comparisons reveal the same genes doing very different things. This differential regulation results in two kinds of embryos that are, in some respects, quite distinct in form and function. The Davidson laboratory has developed the technology to uncover the differences that matter in these control systems, and to convert them into one another experimentally. Nuts and bolts knowledge of evolution is not only basic to understanding our own and all other animals'' biology at a mechanistic level, but will have a gigantic practical payoff. Evolution is our only natural laboratory for change in genomic control systems. To re-engineer these systems for therapeutic or other benign purposes, will require that we learn the rules of allowed and forbidden change in these systems. The Davidson laboratory has significant broader impacts on the developmental biology community by developing new approaches and technologies and for pioneering work on unraveling gene regulatory circuitry during development. The laboratory also has a strong record of student training and participates in the Caltech''s summer SURF program for undergraduates.