QTL MAPPING IN THREESPINE STICKLEBACK

在过去的几年里，发育与进化生物学的综合已经成为研究的一个主要焦点。然而，调控位点的等位基因频率变化在短期进化中的作用尚不清楚。在这个项目中，我将利用一个特殊的机会来调查三刺鱼种群中快速而广泛的形态进化所带来的这些问题。当这种硬骨鱼入侵淡水栖息地时，为了利用不同的资源，它经常进化出不同的身体、头部和下巴形状，同时失去了骨板和刺。我将构建一个刺鱼的遗传图谱，并通过使用祖先海洋和衍生的淡水形式之间的杂交来确定数量性状位点（qtl）。对斑马鱼进行充分研究的比较基因组学将使我能够定义导致不同形态的发育途径的分子基础。然后进行原位表达分析，将成人表型的变化与胚胎发生期间表达模式的变化联系起来。对斑马鱼和棘鱼的综合研究将大大增加我们对微进化发育的认识。更全面地了解发展的微观演变，有望为人类健康带来重大收益。使用发育进化模型可以更好地理解某些人群中较高的遗传疾病发生率，并且可以利用从这些模型中获得的见解设计出针对特定人群的治疗方法。此外，传染病发展演变的更多预测模型将使有针对性的治疗成为可能，从而降低耐药病原体流行的可能性。

The synthesis of developmental and evolutionary biology has become a major focus of research over the pas several years. However, the role of allele frequency changes at regulatory loci during short-term evolution is poorly understood. In this project I will exploit a special opportunity to investigate these issues afforded by the rapid and extensive morphological evolution among populations of threespine stickleback. When this boney fish has invaded freshwater habitats it has often evolved divergent body, head and jaw shapes in order to exploit different resources, and concurrently lost boney plates and spines. I will construct a genetic map or stickleback and identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) by using a cross between ancestral marine and derived freshwater forms. Comparative genomics with the well studied zebrafish will allow me to define the molecular basis of the development-pathways leading to divergent morphologies. In situ expression analyses will then be performed to link changes in adult phenotype to changes in expression patterns during embryogenesis. The synthesis of zebrafish and stickleback research will greatly increase our understanding of the microevolution of development. A fuller understanding of the microevolution of development promises significant gains for human health. Higher rates of genetic disorders in some human populations can be better understood using models of the evolution of development, and population specific treatments can be devised using insight gained from these models. Additionally, more predictive models of the developmental evolution of infectious diseases will allow targeted treatments that will decrease the probability of epidemics of drug resistant pathogens.