Uncovering the evolutionary history and significance of Fibonacci spirals in vascular plants

揭示维管植物中斐波那契螺旋的进化历史和意义

• 批准号: EP/Y037138/1
• 负责人: Alexander Hetherington
• 金额: $ 161.85万
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY037138%2F1
• 关键词: Uncovering; evolutionary; history; significance; Fibonacci

Characterising the drivers of biological form over geological time continues to represent one of the grand challenges in evolutionarybiology. However, doing so has proved difficult as there are few study systems where it is possible to test the competing roles ofselection, constraint and chance. Land plants offer a largely overlooked but ideal study system for tackling these questions because oftheir excellent fossil record and close relationship between form, function and development. In WhyFib I will leverage all of thesebenefits to uncover the evolutionary drivers behind one of the key features of land plants, the arrangement of leaves.On theoretical grounds, plant leaves could be positioned on stems in an almost infinite number of possible arrangements. However,they are not. In fact, they are arranged in a very restricted number of discrete patterns, of which by far the most frequent are spiralsthat are described by integers of the Fibonacci series. Why Fibonacci spirals are so frequent in plants has perplexed scientists forcenturies and remains a major unanswered question.In WhyFib I will answer this question by taking a broad evolutionary approach, underpinned by my own interdisciplinary backgroundand new break-through methodologies developed in my lab. To uncover the evolutionary history of Fibonacci spirals I will combineresults gained from investigating development in non-seed plants with insights from newly collected fossils, analyses of quantitativetrait evolution and quantitative modelling approaches. I will then use these data, representing over 400 million years of evolution, totest the major competing hypotheses for the prevalence of Fibonacci spirals.The results of the project will provide a textbook case study for the drivers of biological form over geological time, while allowing meto solve the mystery of why Fibonacci spirals are so common in plants today.

描述地质时期生物形态的驱动因素仍然是进化生物学面临的重大挑战之一。然而，这样做已经证明是困难的，因为很少有研究系统可以测试选择，约束和机会的竞争作用。陆地植物提供了一个很大程度上被忽视的，但理想的研究系统来解决这些问题，因为他们优秀的化石记录和密切的关系之间的形式，功能和发展。在WhyFib中，我将利用所有这些好处来揭示陆生植物的一个关键特征--叶子的排列--背后的进化驱动力。从理论上讲，植物叶子在茎上的位置几乎可以有无数种可能的排列。然而，它们并非如此。事实上，它们是以非常有限的离散模式排列的，其中最常见的是由斐波那契数列的整数描述的螺旋。为什么斐波那契螺旋在植物中如此频繁地出现，这一直困扰着科学家们几个世纪，并且仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。在WhyFib中，我将通过一种广泛的进化方法来回答这个问题，这种方法以我自己的跨学科背景和我实验室开发的新突破方法为基础。为了揭示斐波那契螺旋的进化历史，我将结合从调查非种子植物的发展中获得的结果，从新收集的化石中获得的见解，分析quantitativetrait进化和定量建模方法。然后，我将用这些代表了4亿多年进化史的数据来检验斐波纳契螺旋普遍存在的主要竞争性假设。该项目的结果将为地质时期生物形态的驱动因素提供教科书式的案例研究，同时也让我能够解开斐波纳契螺旋为什么在今天的植物中如此普遍的谜团。