Phenotypic Integration During Development and Evolution of Beetle Horns

生物体的复杂性是基因、环境条件和发育过程的产物。这些相互作用是许多生物学和医学学科的中心主题，在进化生物学中占有特别突出的地位。归根结底，有机体形式和功能的所有进化多样化只有通过改变至少其中一些相互作用的性质才有可能。该研究项目将探索这些相互作用在一类复杂特征的起源、发展和多样化中的程度、性质和后果，这类特征正在成为综合生物生物学中的一种新的模式系统：甲壳虫的角。角甲虫提供了令人难以置信的有机体的丰富性和多样性，以及实验操作的可及性。利用遗传学、分子和生物化学方法，该研究项目将1)确定哪些基因构成角的形成，2)探索哪些基因允许角的发育或多或少对营养条件做出反应，以及3)探索在角的发育和进化过程中基因和激素如何相互作用。这项研究不仅将在发育、生理和进化领域做出新的贡献，而且还将促进将发育过程的进化与引导自然界这种进化的行为和生态机制相结合。这项研究计划还与几项教育和外展工作密切相关。首先，6名高中教师和3名少数民族高中生将在夏季被招募到研究人员的实验室，让他们沉浸在发展、进化和生态学的研究中。教师和学生将通过现有的外展项目招募，两名调查人员都已经加入了这些项目。其次，该项目将帮助培训至少7名青年科学家(6名本科生，1名博士后)，进行密集的跨学科研究，整合发育生物学、生理学、遗传学、分子生物学和进化论。最后，拟议的研究结果将有助于课程设置，并将作为两门研究生课程的范例，这两门课程分别是进化论与发展学和发育可塑性与进化论。

The complexity of organisms is the product of genes, environmental conditions, and developmental processes. These interactions are central themes in many biological and medical disciplines, and occupy a particularly prominent position in evolutionary biology. Ultimately, all evolutionary diversification of organismal form and function is only possible through changes in the nature of at least some of these interactions. The research project will explore the degree, nature and consequences of these interactions in the origin, development, and diversification of a complex class of traits that is emerging as a new model system in integrative organismal biology: beetle horns. Horned beetles offer incredible organismal richness and diversity, as well as accessibility to experimental manipulation. Using genetic, molecular, and biochemical approaches this research project will 1) determine which genes underlie the formation of horns, 2) explore which genes allow horn development to be more or less responsive to nutritional conditions, and 3) explore how genes and hormones interact during horn development and evolution. This research will not only make a novel contribution to the fields of development, physiology, and evolution, but also facilitate an integration of the evolution of developmental processes with the behavioral and ecological mechanisms that guide such evolution in nature. This research program also interfaces tightly with several educational and outreach efforts. Firstly, six high school teachers and three minority high school students will be recruited into the investigators' laboratories during the summer to immerse them in research in development, evolution, and ecology. Teachers and students will be recruited through existing outreach programs with which both investigators are already affiliated. Secondly, this project will help train at least seven young scientists (6 undergraduate students, 1 postdoc) in intensive interdisciplinary research integrating developmental biology, physiology, genetics, molecular biology and evolution. Lastly, results from the proposed research will contribute to course curricula and will be used as exemplars in two graduate courses on Evolution and Development, and Developmental Plasticity and Evolution.