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

石鳖（软体动物门：多板纲）是常见于岩石海岸的重要生态海洋无脊椎动物。它们通常有八个重叠的壳板，提供许多感觉器官，在某些谱系中进一步发展成微小的成像壳眼。Chiton贝壳眼是已知的唯一使用碳酸钙-矿物文石制成的透镜聚焦光线的眼睛。这项研究将建立多少次，何时，何地，以及如何壳眼在石鳖进化，采用系统发育分析，从DNA的大多数生活石鳖物种，加上化石。石鳖非常适合研究眼睛的起源和进化，因为在壳眼形态上有相当大的变化，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，石鳖的壳眼最近才进化出来。这项拨款将有利于社会，因为石鳖具有独特的特性，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坚固而灵活的天然盔甲，这些都是生物启发设计领域感兴趣的。更好地了解石鳖的关系将有助于研究人员使用比较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，以及促进研究型和教学型大学之间的合作，帮助培养一支多元化、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.