Collaborative Research: The evolution of hair and fur: Proximate and ultimate mechanisms shaping primate pelage variation

该项目研究核心生理和进化过程如何塑造生物多样性。阐明遗传变化和选择压力如何导致性状变异是生物学的中心目标，而关键是确定基因、形式和功能之间的联系，以及这些联系如何改变个体的适应能力和物种的进化成功。此外，了解为什么以及有多少细胞和身体结构在不同的物种中独立进化，可以解释进化是如何通过多种途径“解决”同一问题的。毛发生物学是研究遗传、形态和功能之间联系的理想系统。头发是一种解剖学特征，由自然选择(例如，为捕食者提供伪装，防止寄生虫，在寒冷的环境中保持体温)和性选择(例如，表示性别、年龄、地位)共同塑造。这是哺乳动物的普遍特征，但在不同物种之间，毛发的颜色、图案、生长和质地都有惊人的差异。此外，许多毛发特征，如尾巴条纹或厚厚的羊毛皮，似乎在不同的哺乳动物谱系中反复进化。头发也是一种性状，微小的遗传差异可能会对其产生重大的表型效应；例如，人类的红色头发是由于单个基因的变异造成的。该项目应用尖端基因组和比较分析，以了解遗传变异和选择如何塑造人类和其他灵长类动物的这一重要解剖特征(毛发)。通过这样做，它还将提供一个关键的进化背景，以了解使人类独一无二的生物学特征之一(相对无毛)。通过开展这项研究，几名本科生和研究生，包括从科学界代表性不足的群体中招募的个人，以及一名博士后学者，将接受广泛的科学培训。此外，由于许多人类和动物疾病与毛发变化和脱发有关，该项目与公共卫生以及关于毛发/皮肤状况的皮肤科和临床研究有关。动物毛也是一种重要的商业产品；确定影响自然生物物种毛发特征的生物因素最终可以提高毛发产品的产量和质量。最后，该项目将产生大量关于灵长类多样性的遗传和度量数据，这些数据将有助于保护和进化生物学的研究，以及进一步促进生物人类学的研究。

This project examines how core physiological and evolutionary processes shape biological diversity. Elucidating how genetic changes and selection pressures result in trait variation is a central goal of biology, and key to this is identifying the links between genes, form and function, and how these can alter the fitness of individuals and the evolutionary success of species. Moreover, understanding why and how many cellular and body structures have evolved independently in different species can explain how evolution takes multiple routes to 'solve' the same problem. The biology of hair is an ideal system for studying these links between genetics, form and function. Hair is an anatomical trait that is shaped by both natural selection (e.g., providing camouflage against predators, protection from parasites, maintaining body temperature in cold environments) and sexual selection (e.g., signaling sex, age, status). It is a universal characteristic of mammals, yet across species there is striking variation in the color, pattern, growth, and texture of hair. Moreover, many hair traits, such as tail stripes or thick woolly coats, seem to have evolved repeatedly in different mammal lineages. Hair also is a trait for which small genetic differences can have major phenotypic effects; for example, red hair in humans is due to variation at a single gene. This project applies cutting-edge genomic and comparative analyses to understand how genetic variation and selection have shaped this important anatomical feature (hair) in humans and other primates. In so doing, it also will provide a critical evolutionary context to understand one of the biological traits that make humans unique (relative hairlessness). Through conduct of the research, several undergraduate and graduate students, including individuals recruited from groups underrepresented in science, as well as a postdoctoral scholar, will receive extensive and broad scientific training. In addition, because many human and animal diseases are associated with hair changes and loss, this project is relevant for aspects of public health and dermatological and clinical research on hair/skin conditions. Animal hair also is an important commercial product; identifying the biological factors that shape hair characteristics in natural-living species could eventually improve the yield and quality of hair-based products. And finally, the project will generate a wealth of genetic and metric data on primate diversity that will contribute to research in conservation and evolutionary biology, as well as furthering research in biological anthropology.