The molecular basis of morphological evolution

形态进化的分子基础

• 批准号: 6359045
• 负责人: DAVID L STERN
• 金额: $ 26.82万
• 依托单位: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-08-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6359045
• 关键词: DNA; DNA footprinting; Drosophilidae; binding sites; biochemical evolution; developmental genetics; functional /structural genomics; gene expression; genetic mapping; genetic polymorphism; genetic regulatory element; genetic strain; in situ hybridization; molecular genetics; morphology; natural selections; nucleic acid sequence; phenotype; polymerase chain reaction; regulatory gene; species difference; systematic biology; transcription factor

Our long term goal is to understand how natural genetic variation generates morphological variation. We pursue this goal by combining approaches from developmental genetics and evolutionary biology. Recent work from our lab and others has demonstrated that alterations in gene regulation are likely to be the predominant mode of molecular change underlying morphological evolution. However, we currently have a limited understanding of the structure and function of the genomic regions that regulate gene expression. In addition, several studies have demonstrated that regulatory regions can evolve dramatically different DNA sequences while retaining conserved function. In contrast to studies of genes with conserved patterns of gene expression, almost nothing is known at the molecular level about the alterations in gene function that lead to morphological evolution. Our work is focused on identifying and characterising the DNA changes that are responsible for morphological evolution between closely related species. We have already identified some of the genes that have evolved between closely related Drosophila species to alter the patterning of fine hairs (trichomes) on the larvae and adult. We will perform a detailed investigation of the evolution of the regulatory regions of these genes by combining functional studies and phylogenetic comparisons of DNA sequence variation. Although gene regulatory regions encode much of the logic of development, it is not yet possible to read this logic directly from genomic data. An evolutionary approach to understanding the function of these gene regions is likely to provide important insights into the logic of gene regulatory regions and assist in the interpretation of comparative genomics data.

我们的长期目标是了解自然遗传变异如何产生形态变异。 我们通过结合发育遗传学和进化生物学的方法来实现这一目标。 我们实验室和其他实验室最近的工作表明，基因调控的改变可能是形态进化背后分子变化的主要模式。 然而，我们目前对调节基因表达的基因组区域的结构和功能了解有限。 此外，一些研究表明，调控区域可以进化出显着不同的 DNA 序列，同时保留保守的功能。 与对具有保守基因表达模式的基因的研究相反，在分子水平上几乎对导致形态进化的基因功能改变一无所知。 我们的工作重点是识别和表征 DNA 变化，这些变化导致密切相关的物种之间的形态进化。 我们已经确定了一些在密切相关的果蝇物种之间进化的基因，这些基因可以改变幼虫和成虫上细毛（毛状体）的图案。 我们将结合功能研究和DNA序列变异的系统发育比较，对这些基因调控区域的进化进行详细研究。 尽管基因调控区域编码了大部分发育逻辑，但目前还不可能直接从基因组数据中读取该逻辑。 理解这些基因区域功能的进化方法可能会为基因调控区域的逻辑提供重要的见解，并有助于解释比较基因组学数据。