Collaborative Research: Human Origins and the Molecular Genetic Basis of Craniofacial Evolution

灵长类动物的头，包括人类，都有相同的基本部分，但每个头都不同。 颅面变异对灵长类动物的饮食、防御、姿势、平衡、听觉、视觉和不断扩大的大脑的适应性都有重要的影响。 头骨是一个复杂的适应性结构，问题自然出现在组装和协调其形状的遗传机制上。 该项目将确定在现存的猴子和猿、它们的化石祖先、800只现存狒狒的谱系以及实验室小鼠中，头部形状的变化是否沿着沿着相似的解剖轴发生。 将从这些头部采集计算机断层扫描（CT），并用于测量三维变化。 将使用狒狒和小鼠的数据来鉴定导致这种变异的基因。 哺乳动物的发育途径是共享的，因此小鼠为灵长类动物的发现提供了重要的比较和实验基础。 通过比较DNA序列和生物信息学分析相结合，并通过在小鼠中设计类似于狒狒中所见的变化，将研究头部形状基因结构变化的方式。 许多基因无疑对头部等结构有贡献，现代进化和发育遗传学面临的一个普遍挑战是，要了解某些基因是否在数百万年来和不同的进化分支中重复参与复杂性状的类似变化，或者是否在每种情况下，共同的发育途径中的不同基因负责。该项目将产生大量数据，与关于分析方法和分析的信息沿着公布在一个可供公众查阅的网站上。 PI在培训妇女和少数民族学生方面有着良好的记录，他们将在从本科到博士后的各个层次继续这一传统。 人类进化研究具有强大的公众吸引力，这个项目将受到公众媒体的特别欢迎。

The heads of primates, including humans, all have the same basic parts, yet every head is different. Craniofacial variation has important implications for diet, defense, posture, balance, hearing, vision, and the accommodation of the expanding primate brain. The skull is a complex adaptive structure, and the question naturally arises pertaining to the genetic mechanisms that assemble and coordinate its shape. This project will determine whether variation in head shape occurs along similar anatomical axes among living monkeys and apes, their fossil ancestors, a pedigree of 800 extant baboons, and in laboratory mice. Computerized tomography (CT) scans will be acquired from these heads and used to measure variation in three dimensions. The genes responsible for this variation will be identified using data from baboon and mouse. Developmental pathways are shared among mammals, so mice provide an important comparative and experimental basis for primate findings. The manner by which genes structure variation in head shape will be investigated by combined comparative DNA sequence and bioinformatic analysis, and by engineering similar changes in mice to those seen in baboons. Many genes doubtlessly contribute to structures like the head, and a general challenge to modern evolutionary and developmental genetics generally is to understand whether some genes are repeatedly involved in similar changes in complex traits over the millions of years and different branches of evolution, or whether different genes in the shared developmental pathways are responsible in each instance.The project will generate a large amount of data which will be posted on a publicly accessible website along with information on analytical approaches and analyses. The PIs have a strong record of training women and minority students and they will continue this tradition at all levels from undergraduate to postdoctoral. Human evolutionary studies have a strong public appeal and this project will be exceptionally popular to the public media.