CONFERENCE- CONSEQUENCES OF MATERNALLY DERIVED YOLK HORMONES FOR OFFSPRING PHENOTYPE: CURRENT STATUS, CHALLENGES, AND OPPORTUNITIES, TO BE HELD JANUARY 2-6,2008 IN SAN ANTONIO, TX.

母亲可以通过基因转移以外的方式影响后代的表型。这种母性影响是普遍存在的，不断的研究表明，这种影响是多么微妙和深刻。由于母体效应的进化意义，人们对其产生了巨大的跨学科兴趣，但几个关键的、相互关联的问题仍未得到解答。自从令人兴奋的发现蛋黄中含有母体衍生的类固醇激素以来，研究人员一直在研究蛋黄类固醇如何为母体对后代表型的影响提供机制。在这个阶段，蛋黄类固醇对后代的影响似乎很复杂，可能是积极的，也可能是消极的，这取决于所检查的性状，而且它们在分类群内部和不同分类群之间都是不同的。然而，迄今为止，在不同分类群中研究这一现象的研究人员之间的相互作用有限，而且还不清楚蛋黄类固醇在后代发育中的功能是否存在大规模的模式。作为本次研讨会更广泛影响的一部分，来自各个职业阶段（博士生到正教授）的演讲者将聚集在一起，鼓励合作机会，这对保持一个充满活力的学科至关重要。通过首次将研究鸟类、爬行动物、鱼类和两栖动物相关问题的研究人员聚集在一起，这种相互作用将鼓励采用更综合的方法来研究蛋黄类固醇。

Mothers can influence the phenotype of their offspring in ways beyond the genes that are transferred. Such maternal effects are widespread, and continuing research demonstrates just how subtle and profound they can be. There is tremendous interdisciplinary interest in maternal effects because of their evolutionary implications, but several key, inter-related questions remain unanswered. Since the exciting discovery that egg yolks contain maternally derived steroid hormones researchers have been investigating the many ways by which yolk steroids can provide a mechanism for maternal effects on offspring phenotype. At this stage it seems likely that the consequences of yolk steroids for offspring are complex, may be positive or negative depending on the traits examined, and that they differ both within and among taxa. To date, however, there have been limited interactions between researchers studying this phenomenon in different taxa and it is not yet clear if large-scale patterns regarding the function of yolk steroids in offspring development occur. As part of the broader impacts of this symposium, speakers from the full spectrum of career stages (doctoral student to full professor) will be brought together to encourage collaborative opportunities that are essential to maintaining a vigorous discipline. Such interactions will encourage a more synthetic approach to the study of yolk steroids by bringing together, for the first time, researchers working on related questions in birds, reptiles, fishes, and amphibians.