Collaborative Research: Epidermal gland evolution and the origins of structural and chemical signaling diversity

动物交流系统已经进化出一套非常多样化的形态和生理结构和信号，以控制基本的行为相互作用，如个体识别，建立社会等级，领土和间性选择。视觉、听觉和化学信号模式允许复杂的行为展示，但人们对动物生命树中大多数物种（包括爬行动物）的通信系统如何起源和进化知之甚少。该项目旨在通过调查蜥蜴中新的通信机制（表皮腺体）的起源和进化以及这些系统如何受生态和环境参数的影响来填补这一重要空白。这项研究的结果将为预测人类引起的环境变化如何影响化学信号提供一个框架。该项目通过扩大美国的自然历史收藏和遗传资源，与NSF在科学和社会方面的优先事项趋同，建立大型数据集进行比较研究，开发新的教学材料，重点是化学通信，并直接促进科学教育和公共宣传与伯克自然历史和文化博物馆的一个新的公共展览的发展。在蜥蜴和蛇，化学信号已越来越多地被认为是一个关键的，但未得到充分重视，通信的组成部分。该项目将使用综合方法和工具，包括先进的成像，生物化学，遗传学和来自北美，南美和非洲的不同蜥蜴群体的基因表达，以研究新型表皮腺体的进化，这些腺体在介导几组蜥蜴的行为相互作用中至关重要。本项目将利用研究过程中收集到的各种数据来验证几个假设，包括：（1）物种之间的化学差异与环境参数和生境和微生境的结构复杂性相关;（2）、在存在或不存在表皮腺体和化学信号的情况下，蜥蜴生命树的主要转变在栖息地/微栖息地中发生了变化（如温度，湿度和太阳辐射偏好的变化）;（3）整个蜥蜴生命树的表皮腺体的独立起源具有共同的遗传起源，为这些结构具有深层和共同的祖先提供了强有力的证据。通过使用蜥蜴表皮腺体作为我们的研究系统，该项目将提供洞察新奇的进化和那些在交流和行为中发挥重要作用的结构。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Animal communication systems have evolved an extraordinarily varied set of morphological and physiological structures and signals in order to control essential behavioral interactions, such as individual recognition, establishment of social hierarchies, territoriality, and intersexual selection. Visual, acoustic, and chemical signaling modes allow for complex repertoires of behavioral displays, yet little is known of how communication systems originated and evolved in most species in the animal tree of life, including reptiles. This project aims to fill this important gap by investigating the origin and evolution of novel communication mechanisms (epidermal glands) in lizards and how such systems are shaped by ecological and environmental parameters. Results from this research will provide a framework for predicting how human-induced environmental changes could impact chemical signaling. This project converges with NSF priorities for both science and society by expanding natural history collections and genetic resources in the U.S., building large data sets for comparative studies, developing new teaching materials focused on chemical communication, and directly contributing to scientific education and public outreach with the development of a new public exhibit at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.Among lizards and snakes, chemical signaling has been increasingly acknowledged as a critical, yet underappreciated, component of communication. This project will use integrative methods and tools, including advanced imaging, biochemistry, phylogenetics, and gene expression across diverse lizard groups from North America, South America, and Africa to investigate the evolution of novel epidermal glands that are crucial in mediating behavioral interactions on several groups of lizards. This project will test several hypotheses with the diverse datatypes collected over the course of the research, including (1) chemical differences between species correlate with environmental parameters and structural complexity of the habitats and microhabitats; (2), major transitions in the presence or absence of epidermal glands and chemical signals across the lizard tree of life track shifts in habitat/microhabitat (such as changes in temperature, humidity, and solar radiation preferences); (3) independent origins of epidermal glands across the lizard tree of life share a common genetic origin, providing strong evidence that such structures share deep and common ancestry. By using lizard epidermal glands as our study system, this project will provide insight into the evolution of novelty and those structures that play important roles in communication and behavior.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.