Development, Evolution, and Diversification of Beetle Horns

生物学家对导致生物体特征（如腿的长度或翅膀的宽度）随时间变化的遗传、发育和生态机制有一定的了解。然而，他们对腿或翅膀等特征最初起源的机制的理解有限。Armin Moczek博士有兴趣了解遗传，发育和生态机制，这些机制不仅涉及先前存在的性状的修改，而且涉及它们的实际起源。他的研究项目旨在揭示遗传和发育起源以及随后的进化多样化特征，这些特征既新颖又高度多样：甲虫的角。成千上万的甲虫物种进化出了角，作为雄性与雌性竞争的武器，角的类型存在着显着的多样性。初步结果表明，角的起源可能是由于使用了广泛多样的基因和发育过程，这些基因和发育过程通常是为腿或口器等附属物的发育而保留的。因此，甲虫的角提供了一个绝佳的机会，可以研究自然界如何重组发育和遗传过程，以进化出一类新的特征来实现新的功能。Moczek博士的研究结合了遗传和发育的方法来解决甲虫角是如何起源和多样化的。他将把这项工作与几项教育/外联工作联系起来。首先，他将通过昆虫学本科课程的开发，扩大昆虫生物学本科教育的范围和质量。Moczek博士还与当地儿童科学、健康和技术博物馆建立了合作关系，为120多名中小学教师提供昆虫生物学方面的培训和教育资源。他将培训至少8名年轻科学家进行密集的跨学科研究，并通过招募6名高中教师和3名少数民族高中学生参加发展，进化和生态学的夏季研究计划来促进教育推广。

Biologists have some understanding of the genetic, developmental, and ecological mechanisms that cause the traits of organisms, such as the length of a leg or the width of a wing, to change over time. However, they have a limited understanding of the mechanisms that allow traits such as legs or wings to originate in first place. Dr. Armin Moczek is interested in understanding the genetic, developmental, and ecological mechanisms that are involved not just in the modification of preexisting traits, but in their actual origins. His research program is designed to uncover the genetic and developmental origins and subsequent evolutionary diversification of traits that are both novel and highly diverse: the horns of beetles. Many thousands of beetle species have evolved horns used as weapons in male competition over females, and a remarkable diversity of horn types exists. Preliminary results suggest that the origin of horns has been made possible by the use of a wide diversity of genes and developmental processes normally reserved for the development of appendages such as legs or mouthparts. The horns of beetles therefore offer an outstanding opportunity to study how nature reorganizes developmental and genetic processes in order to evolve a novel class of traits for new functions. Dr. Moczek's research combines genetic and developmental approaches to address how beetle horns originated and diversified. He will interface this work with several educational/outreach efforts. First, he will expand the scope and quality of undergraduate education in insect biology through development of an undergraduate course in Entomology. Dr. Moczek has also established a collaboration with a local children's museum of science, health and technology to provide training and educational resources in insect biology to over 120 elementary and middle school teachers. He will train at least 8 young scientists in intensive interdisciplinary research and facilitate educational outreach by recruiting 6 high school teachers and 3 minority high school students into a summer research program in development, evolution, and ecology.