Evolution of Chordate ParaHox Gene Regulation

脊索动物 ParaHox 基因调控的进化

• 批准号: 2882711
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2882711
• 关键词: Evolution; Chordate; ParaHox; Gene; Regulation

The project will involve an investigation into the chordate ParaHox gene cluster, specifically looking atthe regulatory mechanisms operating across them. ParaHox genes are the evolutionary sister to the Hoxgenes and too exhibit collinearity in expression. A particular advantage of studying the ParaHox genesis that there are only three ParaHox genes, which provides a simpler system to investigate in comparisonto the Hox genes. The organisms used to study these genes will be amphioxus, the tunicate ciona and the chick. Providingthe means to look at the role of the cluster both before and after the two rounds of whole genomeduplication at the base of the vertebrates. Using all three organisms also provides the opportunity to lookat both intact and dispersed clusters. Overall, comparisons between the three species will be used toinvestigate the role of the Parahox genes in the evolution and diversification of the earliest animals. The project will achieve this by identifying conservation in upstream regions of our genes of interest usingprograms like VISTA and MULAN to identify conserved transcription factor binding sites within this region.Following identification of potential transcription factors, in-situ hybridisation could be used to compareexpression across the three species. Expansion on this could be to use gene knock out using Crispr ortargeted mutanogenesis (can introduce double point mutations) compare between the differentorganisms.

该项目将涉及对脊索动物 ParaHox 基因簇的调查，特别是研究它们之间运作的调节机制。 ParaHox 基因是 Hoxgenes 的进化姐妹，并且在表达中也表现出共线性。研究 ParaHox 起源的一个特殊优势是只有三个 ParaHox 基因，与 Hox 基因相比，它提供了更简单的研究系统。用于研究这些基因的生物体将是文昌鱼、被囊类海狸和雏鸡。提供了观察脊椎动物基部两轮全基因组复制之前和之后簇的作用的方法。使用所有三种生物体还提供了观察完整和分散的簇的机会。总体而言，这三个物种之间的比较将用于研究 Parahox 基因在最早动物的进化和多样化中的作用。该项目将通过使用 VISTA 和 MULAN 等程序识别我们感兴趣的基因上游区域的保守性来实现这一目标，以识别该区域内保守的转录因子结合位点。在识别出潜在的转录因子后，可以使用原位杂交来比较三个物种的表达。对此的扩展可能是使用 Crispr 进行基因敲除或靶向突变（可以引入双点突变）在不同生物体之间进行比较。