DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolutionary and functional diversification of an ancient biopolymer in cnidarians.

甲壳素最近已被发现存在于多种动物中，可能具有未知的功能。昆虫、虾及其近亲的硬壳是由甲壳素制成的。 但甲壳素是一种天然聚合物，由一系列糖样分子连接而成，现在似乎是由许多软体动物产生的。 这项拟议中的研究考察了珊瑚、海葵和水母中甲壳素的生物学特性。像这一组中的其他物种一样，海葵Nematostella vectensis缺乏任何明显由甲壳素组成的坚硬身体部分。然而，这些海葵的基因组有三个编码几丁质产生酶的基因。本研究将探讨甲壳素在软体动物体内的分布。这项研究将确定甲壳素是否在这些生物体的发育中具有不可或缺的和意想不到的作用。最终，这项研究将促进我们对动物如何使用糖聚合物进化出新结构的理解。这项研究还将为一名研究生提供培训，并促进女孩在科学项目中的推广工作，并为本科生研究人员提供指导。甲壳素在动物发育和再生中的作用尚未得到广泛探讨，尽管先前的工作表明，糖聚合物可能在细胞行为和迁移中发挥广泛作用。初步数据显示，甲壳素存在于刺胞动物的刺细胞（刺胞科）以及软组织中。本研究将调查甲壳素合成酶（CHS）基因的多样性在刺胞动物。我们的目标是确定共享和谱系特异性的变化，CHS基因可能与甲壳素的不同作用。将调查来自五个刺胞纲的数十种刺胞动物。动物将在种属水平上进行识别，并从不同组织类型中采集组织。将分离RNA并用于提供CHS基因在哪些组织中表达的组织特异性谱。不同物种和组织的基因表达模式的变化将允许推断甲壳素作为结构或非结构化合物的进化多样化。

Chitin has recently has been discovered in a diverse range of animals and may serve as yet unknown functions. The hard shells of insects, shrimp and their relatives are made from chitin. But chitin is a natural polymer made by connecting a series of sugar-like molecules that now appears to be produced by many soft bodied animals. The proposed research examines the biology of chitin in the group containing corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish. Like other species in this group the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, lacks any hard body parts that would be obviously made of chitin. However, the genomes of these anemones have three genes that code for a chitin-producing enzyme. This research will investigate the distribution of chitin in these soft-bodied animals. The research will determine if chitin has an integral and unexpected role in the development of these organisms. Ultimately, this research will advance our understanding of how animals evolve novel structures using glycopolymers. This research will also provide training for a graduate student and foster outreach efforts for Girls in Science programs and mentorship of undergraduate researchers.Chitin's role in animal development and regeneration has not been widely explored, though prior work suggests that glycopolymers may have a widespread role in cell behavior and migration. Preliminary data show that chitin is present in cnidarian stinging cells (cnidae), as well as soft tissues. This study will survey the diversity of chitin synthase (CHS) genes across the cnidarians. The goal is to determine shared and lineage-specific changes to CHS genes that may correlate to diverse roles of chitin. Dozens of species of cnidarians from five cnidarian classes will be surveyed. Animals will be identified to species level and tissue collected from different tissue types. RNA will be Isolated and used to provide tissue specific profiles of which CHS genes are expressed in which tissues. Variation in the pattern of gene expression across species and tissues will allow inference of the evolutionary diversification of chitin as structural or nonstructural compound.