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。在进化过程中被修改以产生这种多样性的一个关键特征是身体部分的数量和类型。大多数节肢动物以同样的方式发展他们的部分：他们从后面一个接一个地添加它们，从一个通常被称为“生长区”的区域。 尽管是节肢动物分割的最常见模式，但生长区大多未被研究。该项目将分析两个物种的生长区的细胞动力学和遗传调节-甲壳类动物卤虫和甲虫Tribolium -两者都从后部一个接一个地添加片段。它将集中在一组共同的基因，最近已被假设为控制不同节肢动物的生长区和节段模式。细胞动力学和遗传调控的融合为发展关于分割进化的假说提供了最强的Vantage。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一个共同的进化起源，而且分割确实类似于更广泛的重复现象。这项工作是一个PI在教学机构和一个PI在研究机构之间的合作努力。该项目旨在促进这两个机构的本科生参与研究，并包括一项计划，让教学机构的学生在研究机构进行夏季研究。这两个PI都积极招募代表性不足的少数民族和妇女，以支持科学发现的环境。

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.