SYMPOSIUM - REPTILE GENOMICS AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS, to be held January 2008 in San Antonio, TX.

鸟类和哺乳动物是从爬行动物进化而来的，但鸟类和哺乳动物的发育遗传学如何反映它们的爬行动物祖先却知之甚少。鸟类和哺乳动物在生殖特征和基因组构成方面差别很大。例如，尽管鸟类和哺乳动物的性别是由个体基因型决定的，但鸟类和哺乳动物的性染色体系统是不同的。在哺乳动物中，雄性产生两种携带X或Y染色体的精子，而在鸟类中，雌性产生两种携带Z或W染色体的卵子。这两种机制都存在于爬行动物中，以及依赖温度的性别决定。此外，鸟类的基因组平均比哺乳动物和爬行动物的基因组要小，因为它们的基因组由活跃的和已灭绝的重复元素组成，这些重复元素的多样性在爬行动物中很大程度上尚未被探索。因此，爬行动物的基因结构和调控、发育模式和过程以及基因组结构的比较数据对于了解爬行动物以及鸟类和哺乳动物的遗传和全基因组进化趋势至关重要。本次研讨会将在2008年综合与比较生物学学会会议上举行，将重点介绍爬行动物（包括鸟类）基因组测序、爬行动物基因组结构表征和爬行动物特征进化（即性别决定机制、生理学、内分泌途径和染色体结构）方面的进展和进展。研讨会的参加者在性别、地理来源和职业阶段方面构成了一个多样化的发言者群体，其中包括科学界代表性不足的群体的成员。研讨会将促进思想和协议的分享，并帮助建立有助于该领域进步的合作。提交的论文将在综合与比较生物学学会期刊上广泛传播。

Birds and mammals evolved from reptiles, yet little is known about how avian and mammalian developmental genetics reflect their reptilian ancestry. Birds and mammals vary tremendously in their reproductive traits and genomic constitution. For example, although sex is determined by individual genotype in birds and mammals, avian and mammalian sex chromosomes systems are different. In mammals, males produce two types of sperm that carry either an X or a Y chromosome, whereas in birds, females produce two types of eggs that carry either a Z or a W chromosome. Both mechanisms exist in reptiles, along with temperature-dependent sex determination. Also, bird genomes are, on average, smaller than the genomes of mammals and reptiles owing to differences in the amount of their genome that is composed of active and extinct interspersed repetitive elements, the diversity of which remains largely unexplored in reptiles. Thus, comparative data on gene structure and regulation, developmental patterns and processes, and genome architecture of reptiles are critical for understanding genetic and genome-wide evolutionary trends not only in reptiles, but also in birds and mammals. This symposium, which will be held at the 2008 meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, will highlight advances and progress made in sequencing of reptile genomes (including birds), characterizing reptilian genome architecture, and describing the evolution of reptilian traits (i.e., sex-determining mechanisms, physiology, endocrine pathways, and chromosome structure). The symposium participants constitute a diverse group of speakers in terms of gender, geographic origin, as well as career stages, and include members of underrepresented groups in science. The symposium will foster the sharing of ideas and protocols, and help build collaborations that will contribute to the advancement of the field. Presented papers will be broadly disseminated by publication in the journal of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.