Testing the genetic impact on the internal and external shape of teeth in non-human primates

测试遗传对非人类灵长类动物牙齿内部和外部形状的影响

• 批准号: 2341544
• 负责人: Kathleen Paul
• 金额: $ 63.04万
• 依托单位: University of Arkansas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-15 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341544&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Testing; genetic; impact; internal; external

Teeth provide information about the behavior, diet and health of a species. Due to these unique characteristics, dental studies have provided much information about past human and non-human primate (NHP) populations. In addition to the information about diet, behavior and health, teeth’s external morphology (shape) has been extensively analyzed in studies of lineage evolution and population relatedness. These studies rest on the idea that tooth development and resulting tooth morphology are under strong genetic control. However, morphological variation of teeth is high, and for many dental morphological traits the assumption of strong genetic control remains untested. This study advances knowledge about external and internal tooth morphology using non-invasive techniques in primate skeletal collections. The project supports students and scholars at different stages (postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students), and includes outreach activities directed to K-12 students in Puerto Rico and New York. Leveraging partnerships between the local clinical community and the University of Arkansas’ Predental Studies Program, this project also benefits society by providing research training and professional development opportunities to aspiring dentists. Analyses that infer evolutionary relatedness assume that dental traits faithfully relay genetic lineage information. But this assumption has yet to be empirically tested in many dental morphological traits. This study measures variation at the outer enamel surface, enamel-dentine junction, root, and pulp chamber in two NHP (M. mulatta, S. fuscicollis; N=550). Using paired microCT and pedigree data, this project takes a quantitative genetic approach to answer the following questions: (1) To what degree is dental morphometric variation (across distinct teeth and tissues) influenced by genes?; (2) What environmental factors impact tooth form throughout development?; (3) To what degree are tooth characters genetically correlated (influenced by the same genes)?; and (4) Does dental genetic architecture differ across taxa? By generating novel heritability, evolvability, and genetic correlation estimates, this project provides insights into the driving mechanisms of dental variation and how genes are recruited throughout development to influence distinct tooth structures. This information is essential to ground truthing the use of teeth for reconstructing evolutionary processes and experiences of stress and illness. The study is innovative in its incorporation of internal morphology, the use of non-destructive techniques, and its detailed examination of distinct moments in the development of internal and external dental morphology. The study contributes over 1,000 high-resolution scans and 3D surface models of skulls and teeth, extending curation of analyzed skeletal collections and enhancing teaching and research infrastructure through open-access digital archives.This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the SBE Postdoctoral Fellowships.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.

牙齿提供有关物种的行为，饮食和健康的信息。由于这些独特的特征，牙科研究提供了有关过去和非人类灵长类动物（NHP）种群的大量信息。除了有关饮食，行为和健康的信息外，牙齿的外部形态（形状）在谱系进化和人口相关性的研究中得到了广泛的分析。这些研究基于这样的观念，即牙齿发育和牙齿形态受到强大的遗传控制。然而，牙齿的形态变异很高，对于许多牙科形态特征，强有力的遗传控制的假设仍未经过测试。这项研究在私人骨骼收集中使用非侵入性技术提高了有关外部和内部牙齿形态的知识。该项目在不同阶段（博士后，研究生和本科生）为学生和学者提供支持，并包括针对波多黎各和纽约的K-12学生的外展活动。该项目利用当地临床界与阿肯色大学的前瞻性研究计划之间的合作伙伴关系，通过为有抱负的牙医提供研究培训和专业发展机会，使社会受益。推断进化相关性的分析假设牙齿特征忠实地中继遗传谱系信息。但是，在许多牙科形态学特征中，这种假设尚未经过经验检验。这项研究测量了两个NHP中外搪瓷表面，牙釉质丁丁连接，根和果肉室的变化（M. Mulatta，S。fuscicollis; n = 550）。使用配对的微观和血统数据，该项目采用定量遗传方法来回答以下问题：（1）受基因影响的牙齿形态变异（互换不同的牙齿和组织）在多大程度上？ （2）哪些环境因素在整个开发过程中影响牙齿形成？ （3）特征在多大程度上与遗传相关（受相同基因的影响）？ （4）牙科遗传建筑在整个分类单元中是否有所不同？通过产生新颖的遗传力，可发展性和遗传相关性估计，该项目提供了有关牙齿变异的驱动机制以及如何在整个发育过程中募集基因以影响独特的牙齿结构的见解。此信息对于将牙齿用于重建进化过程和压力和疾病的经历至关重要。这项研究在内部形态，非破坏性技术的使用以及对内部和外部牙科形态发展中不同时刻的详细研究方面具有创新性。 The study contributes over 1,000 high-resolution scans and 3D surface models of skulls and teeth, extending curation of analyzed skeletal collections and enhancing teaching and research infrastructure through open-access digital archives.This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the SBE Postdoctoral Fellowships.This award reflects NSF's statutory任务，并通过评估使用基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为是宝贵的支持。