CAREER: Size Matters - The regulation of allometry in insects

职业：大小很重要 - 昆虫异速生长的调节

• 批准号: 0845847
• 负责人: Alexander Shingleton
• 金额: $ 53.24万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0845847&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Size; Matters; regulation; allometry

The relationship between body and organ size, called allometry, defines the shape of an animal. It is no exaggeration to say that the evolution of animal form is to a great extent the evolution of allometry. Despite this, almost nothing is known of the processes that regulate allometry, leaving a conspicuous gap in our knowledge of how animals develop and evolve. The goal of this research is to uncover the developmental mechanisms that regulate allometry. The research will take a molecular genetic approach to identify the genes that regulate allometry and examine how these genes act during development to ensure that final organ size correctly matches final body size. The results address a fundamental, as yet unanswered, question: how is growth of individual organs coordinated with growth of the body as a whole? The outcome of the research will identify the developmental mechanisms that regulate animal shape, which is an essential first step in understanding how animal shape evolves. The broader impact of this proposal is that it will support the development of a program aimed at expanding the research opportunities for undergraduates at Michigan State University, particularly those from groups underrepresented in science. Furthermore, it will benefit the wider academic community through the development of a web-based tool (Flypic.org) specifically designed to facilitate the teaching of Drosophila genetics to undergraduates.

身体和器官大小之间的关系（称为异速生长）决定了动物的形状。可以毫不夸张地说，动物形态的进化很大程度上是异速生长的进化。尽管如此，我们对调节异速生长的过程几乎一无所知，这在我们对动物如何发育和进化的了解中留下了明显的空白。 这项研究的目的是揭示调节异速生长的发育机制。该研究将采用分子遗传学方法来识别调节异速生长的基因，并检查这些基因在发育过程中如何发挥作用，以确保最终的器官尺寸与最终的身体尺寸正确匹配。结果解决了一个尚未解答的基本问题：单个器官的生长如何与整个身体的生长协调？ 研究结果将确定调节动物体形的发育机制，这是了解动物体形如何进化的重要第一步。该提案更广泛的影响在于，它将支持一项旨在扩大密歇根州立大学本科生研究机会的计划的开发，特别是那些来自科学领域代表性不足的群体的本科生。此外，通过开发专门用于促进本科生果蝇遗传学教学的网络工具（Flypic.org），它将使更广泛的学术界受益。