RUI: Collaborative Research: Timing and Molecular Origins of Recently Evolved Chiton Shell-Eyes: Phylogenomics of Chitonina

石鳖是一种重要的海洋无脊椎动物，常见于岩质海岸。它们通常有八个重叠的壳板，带有许多感觉器官，在某些血统中，这些感觉器官进一步发育成微小的成像贝眼。石鳖贝眼是已知的唯一使用由碳酸钙矿物文石制成的镜片聚焦光线的眼睛。这项研究将利用DNA对大多数现存的甲鱼物种以及化石进行的系统发育分析，确定甲鱼的壳眼进化的次数、时间、地点和方式。石鳖非常适合于研究眼睛的起源和进化，因为贝眼的形态有相当大的差异，可以进行比较研究，行为和分子实验是可行的，而且与其他动物的眼睛相比，石鳖的贝眼是最近进化出来的。这笔赠款将造福社会，因为石鳖具有独特的特征，不仅包括矿物镜片，还包括用于喂养的磁铁矿涂层牙齿，以及一种坚固而灵活的天然盔甲，这是生物灵感设计领域感兴趣的。更好地了解龟类之间的关系将有助于研究人员使用比较的方法来研究这些特征和其他特征。这笔赠款将通过资助本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员的培训，以及促进研究型大学和教学型大学之间的合作，帮助培养一支多元化的、具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力队伍。

Chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) are ecologically important marine invertebrate animals common on rocky shores. They typically have eight overlapping shell plates supplied with numerous sensory organs, which in certain lineages are further developed into tiny image-forming shell-eyes. Chiton shell-eyes are the only eyes known to focus light using lenses made of the calcium carbonate - mineral aragonite. This study will establish how many times, when, where, and how shell-eyes evolved in chitons, employing phylogenetic analyses from DNA for most living chiton species, plus fossils. Chitons are well suited for investigating the origin and evolution of eyes because there is considerable variation in shell-eye morphology that permits comparative studies, behavioral and molecular experiments are feasible, and chiton shell-eyes evolved recently compared to the eyes of other animals. This grant will benefit society because chitons have unique traits including not only mineral-based lenses but also magnetite-coated teeth used for feeding and a robust and flexible form of natural armor that are of interest to the field of biologically-inspired design. Better understanding of chiton relationships will help researchers use comparative methods to study these traits and others. The grant will help develop a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce by funding the training of undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers and fostering collaboration between research- and teaching-oriented universities.