The dictionary of genetic effects and the language of morphology

基因组测序项目的成功突出表明，我们对整个生物体是如何组合在一起的知之甚少。破译基因组和生物体之间的关系需要研究微妙的遗传变化对整个生物体的影响。这个项目将开发和应用这样一种方法，通过操纵数百个基因的表达，观察对体型的影响，然后使用建模来测试对这些影响如何发生的理解。该项目将重点研究果蝇翅膀形状的遗传基础，果蝇是为数不多的多细胞生物之一，在这些生物中，必要的遗传操作很容易完成，并且可以获得大量的详细数据。这个项目对生物学具有广泛的意义，因为人类的健康和疾病，驯化植物和动物的改良，以及生物体的适应能力，都源于基因组与生物体之间的关系。这个项目将提供比以前更详细的关于整个生物体变异的遗传基础的数据。这项研究将提供一个程序模型和分析软件，可供其他人使用，将此类研究扩展到其他生物体，并最终适用于人类和与我们互动的物种。许多本科生和一名博士后将通过参与该项目获得培训。

The success of genome-sequencing projects highlights how little we know about how the whole organism is put together. Deciphering the relationship between the genome and the organism requires study of the effects of subtle genetic changes on the whole organism. This project will develop and apply one such approach by manipulating the expression of hundreds of genes and observing the effects on body shape, then using modeling to test understanding of how these effects occur. The project will focus on the genetic basis of shape of the wing of fruit flies, one of the few multi-cellular organisms where the necessary genetic manipulations are easy to accomplish and detailed data can be obtained in large quantities. This project has broad significance for biology, because health and disease in humans, improvement of domesticated plants and animals, and the ability of organisms to adapt, all derive from the relationship between the genome and the organism. This project will provide more detailed data on the genetic basis of variation in the whole organism than has previously been available. The research will provide a procedural model and analytical software which can be used by others to extend such studies to other organisms and that ultimately is applicable to humans and the species we interact with. Many undergraduates and a post-doctoral research will receive training through participation in this project.