Collaborative Research: RUI: Adding Segments One by One: A Comparative Analysis of the Growth Zone in Arthropods

节肢动物是地球上最丰富和最多样化的动物群体之一。在进化过程中为了产生这种多样性而修改的一个关键特征是身体节段的数量和类型。大多数节肢动物都以同样的方式发育它们的节段：它们从后方一个接一个地从通常被称为“生长带”的区域添加节肢。尽管是节肢动物最常见的节段模式，但生长带大多还没有被研究过。这个项目将分析两个物种-甲壳类动物卤虫和甲虫Tribolium的生长区的细胞动力学和遗传调节-这两个物种都从后面一个接一个地添加片段。它将重点放在一组共同的基因上，这些基因最近被假设控制不同节肢动物的生长带和节段模式。细胞动力学和遗传调控的融合为发展关于片段进化的假说提供了最强的有利条件。从长远来看，这项研究将提供更多的数据来评估越来越多的猜测，即所有动物的分割都有共同的进化起源，而且确实分割类似于更广泛的重复现象。这项工作是教学机构的一名PI和研究机构的一名PI之间的合作努力。该项目旨在促进两所院校的本科生参与研究，并包括一项让教学机构的学生在研究机构进行暑期研究的计划。这两家私人投资机构都在积极招募代表不足的少数群体和妇女，以营造科学发现的支持性环境。

Arthropods are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of animals on the planet. A key feature that has been modified during evolution to produce this diversity is the number and types of body segments. Most arthropods develop their segments in the same way: they add them one by one from the posterior, from a region commonly called the 'growth zone'. In spite of being the most common mode of arthropod segmentation, the growth zone is mostly unstudied. This project will analyze cell dynamics and genetic regulation of the growth zone in two species - a crustacean, Artemia, and a beetle, Tribolium - both of which add segments one by one from the posterior. It will focus on a common set of genes that recently have been hypothesized to control the growth zone and segmental patterning in diverse arthropods. The fusion of cellular dynamics and genetic regulation provides the strongest vantage point for developing hypotheses about the evolution of segmentation. In the long term, this research will provide additional data to evaluate the growing speculation that segmentation throughout all animals shares a common evolutionary origin and that indeed segmentation is akin to the much broader phenomena of reiteration. This work is a collaborative effort between one PI at a teaching institution and one PI at a research institution. This project is aimed at both institutions to promote participation of undergraduates in research and includes a plan for students from the teaching institution to do summer research at the research institution. Both PIs are active in recruiting under-represented minorities and women to a supportive environment of scientific discovery.