DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Gastropod shells: A window into the developmental origins of diversity

论文研究：腹足动物壳：了解多样性发展起源的窗口

• 批准号: 1601509
• 负责人: Neil Shubin
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1601509&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Gastropod; shells; window

This project investigates how different types of shell shapes are encoded in snail embryos. Animal form is marvelously varied. This study addresses the question: what are the developmental mechanisms that produce such diversity? Snails have long been a model system for studying biological form. They have diverse shapes but are easy to measure due to their mathematically regular coiling and have been a major study group since Charles Darwin's famous voyage around the world. Darwin's approach to the study of animal form included investigations of patterns of change in the snail-rich fossil record (paleontology). Modern developmental biology uses molecular tools to understand how genes determine snail form. This project will determine the genetic and environmental interactions that may underlie a conspicuous pattern in paleontology, the repeated evolution of non-coiled shells from coiled ancestors. The researchers will combine computer imaging technology, genetic manipulation and paleontology to provide unparalleled precision in determining how both genes and their environment shape an organism through time. Broader societal impacts will result from this work due in part to the design and implementation of a workshop on visual literacy. This workshop will improve the ability of the researchers and the scientific community to understand and convey complex visual information to the public. The workshop materials will be posted online for increased access. This project investigates the developmental basis of snail shell morphology and the transition from coiled to non-coiled shells in the emerging model system, the Common Slipper Shell (Crepidula fornicata). Specifically, it evaluates the hypothesis that simple modification in signaling patterns in a protein named decapentaplegic could be the basis for a pattern of non-coiled shell evolution. Other shell developmental genes also will be evaluated for the ability to affect shell patterning more generally. Genetic pathways influenced by changes in shell coiling will be manipulated in developing animals to isolate their individual effects on morphology. Detailed morphological data is required for this work. Scanning electron microscopy will be used to visualize the process of torsion and to assess morphological changes across the entire embryo in response to genetic perturbations. Computed tomography (CT scanning) will enable the use of 3-dimensional shape analysis of embryo and shell form with enhanced precision. The use of these computer-assisted technologies combined with molecular techniques will allow new insight into how paleontological patterns are formed.

这个项目研究了不同类型的壳形状是如何在蜗牛胚胎中编码的。动物的形态是多种多样的。本研究解决的问题：是什么样的发展机制，产生这种多样性？蜗牛一直是研究生物形态的模型系统。它们有不同的形状，但很容易测量，因为它们的数学规则卷曲，并已成为一个主要的研究小组，因为查尔斯达尔文的著名的环球航行。达尔文研究动物形态的方法包括研究富含蜗牛的化石记录（古生物学）的变化模式。现代发育生物学使用分子工具来了解基因如何决定蜗牛的形态。这个项目将确定遗传和环境的相互作用，这可能是古生物学中一个明显模式的基础，即从盘绕的祖先重复进化出非盘绕的贝壳。研究人员将联合收割机结合计算机成像技术、遗传操作和古生物学，以提供无与伦比的精确度，确定基因及其环境如何随着时间的推移塑造生物体。这项工作将产生更广泛的社会影响，部分原因是设计和举办了一个视觉扫盲讲习班。该讲习班将提高研究人员和科学界理解并向公众传达复杂视觉信息的能力。讲习班材料将张贴在网上，以增加查阅机会。本项目研究了蜗牛壳形态的发展基础，以及在新兴的模型系统中从卷曲壳到非卷曲壳的过渡，常见的拖鞋壳（Crepidula fornicata）。具体而言，它评估的假设，简单的修改在一个名为decapentaplegic蛋白质的信号模式可能是一个模式的非螺旋壳进化的基础。其他壳发育基因也将被评估的能力，影响壳图案更普遍。受贝壳卷曲变化影响的遗传途径将在发育中的动物中进行操作，以分离其对形态学的个体影响。这项工作需要详细的形态学数据。扫描电子显微镜将用于可视化扭转过程，并评估整个胚胎对遗传扰动的形态变化。计算机断层扫描（CT扫描）将使胚胎和贝壳形状的三维形状分析的使用具有更高的精度。这些计算机辅助技术与分子技术相结合的使用将使人们对古生物学模式是如何形成的有新的认识。