Collaborative Research: The structure, function, and evolution of a regulatory network controlling sexually dimorphic fruit fly development

基因网络是动物发育的基础，尽管这些网络的复杂性已经在模式生物中绘制出来，但网络进化和生物多样性之间的关键联系仍然不清楚。这个项目通过研究如何通过修饰色素基因网络的关键成员之间的连接来获得新的果蝇色素模式，为这些复杂的生物网络提供了一个独特的视角。使用候选基因和基因组规模的方法，将确定关键调控蛋白如何连接，从而控制形成色素模式所需的一系列目标基因的利用。此外，比较呈现不同色素模式的相关物种内部和之间的网络连接将揭示这些连接是如何进化的，以及网络相互作用如何影响这种关键调控蛋白的自然变异。加强对这一模型基因网络的理解将有助于进化和发育生物学社区构建和测试假设，即其他基因网络如何运作并已改变以控制不同谱系中的不同特征。此外，这些结果与人类状况有关，因为连接调控蛋白和目标基因的DNA序列中的遗传差异是个体之间差异的主要原因，但人们对此知之甚少。该项目将产生许多更广泛的影响，包括：为本科生和研究生提供培训机会，为高中生物课程制定实验室练习和为高中生提供研究经验，在大学研讨会上进行互动，并与非科学学生和教师访问地区高中，以交流进化发育生物学对现代科学思想的贡献和科学研究对社会的价值。

Gene networks are fundamental to animal development, and though the complexity of these networks has been mapped in model organisms, the critical connection between network evolution and organismal diversity remains unclear. This project provides a unique perspective to these complex biological networks by investigating how new fruit fly pigmentation patterns were achieved through the modification of connections between pivotal members of a pigmentation gene network. Using candidate gene and genome-scale approaches it will be determined how a key regulatory protein is connected to and thereby controls the utilization of a battery of target genes necessary to make a pigmentation pattern. Furthermore, comparing network connections within and between related species that exhibit different pigmentation patterns will reveal how these connections evolved and how network interactions affect natural variation in the production of this key regulatory protein. An enhanced understanding of this model gene network will aid both the evolutionary and developmental biology communities in the construction and testing of hypotheses as to how other gene networks operate and have changed to control diverse traits in diverse lineages. Moreover, these outcomes bear upon the human condition as genetic differences in the DNA sequences connecting regulatory proteins to their target genes is a major yet poorly understood cause of variation between individuals. This project will achieve numerous broader impacts, including: training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, the development of both lab exercises for high school biology curricula and research experiences for high school students, and interactions at University symposia and on visitations to area High Schools with non-scientific students and teachers to communicate the contributions of evolutionary developmental biology to modern scientific thought and the value of scientific research to society.