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的调控机制。ParaHox基因是Hoxgenes的进化姐妹，在表达上也表现出共线性。研究ParaHox基因的一个特别的优点是只有三个ParaHox基因，这为研究Hox基因提供了一个更简单的系统。用于研究这些基因的生物体将是文昌鱼、海鞘和小鸡。提供了一种方法来观察脊椎动物在两轮全基因组复制之前和之后的簇的作用。使用所有三种生物也提供了观察完整和分散集群的机会。总的来说，这三个物种之间的比较将被用来研究Parahox基因在最早的动物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基因上游区域的保守性来实现这一目标，以识别该区域内的保守转录因子结合位点。在识别潜在的转录因子后，可以使用原位杂交来比较三个物种的表达。在此基础上的扩展可能是使用Crispr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的基因敲除。