The molecular basis of morphological change; antennal variation in crustaceans

描述（由申请人提供）：确定形态差异如何产生是进化生物学中非常重要的主题，但很难通过实验解决。然而，随着进化和发育生物学（evo-devo）领域的出现，现在将新的有趣的物种带入实验室来询问分子和遗传问题变得可行。大多数进化-发育研究要么关注宏观进化（大规模），要么关注微观进化（小规模）。微进化研究在发现导致形态变化的遗传变化方面非常有价值，因为分离所讨论的种群的时间差相对较短。仍然存在的一个问题是，在较短的时间尺度上，微进化变化的路径是否代表了在较长的时间尺度上的变化路径。为了真正理解物种形成中形态变化的进化，我们需要解决一个看似不可能的目标，即研究被巨大时间差异所分隔的物种的形态进化的遗传学。弥合短时间尺度上的进化和长时间尺度上的进化之间的差距的一种方法是观察一种在物种内和物种之间都表现出巨大多样性的形态。我们建议在三个不同的时间尺度上研究触角发育的分子和遗传学：昆虫和甲壳类动物之间，不同的甲壳类动物物种之间，和在一个甲壳类动物物种，种内触角的变化。我们将使用一个候选基因的方法，检测已知参与触角发育的基因在不同触角形态的甲壳类昆虫中的基因表达。我们还将在甲壳动物Parhyale hawaiensis中功能性地研究其中一些基因，Parhyale hawaiensis是一种适合分子分析的物种。使用候选人的遗传方法，我们将研究种内触角的变化在一个物种，洞穴和地表居住人口。从医学的角度来看，研究表型变化背后的遗传和分子基础非常重要;人类遗传学的主要目标之一是弄清楚哪些遗传变化是导致疾病和其他病症的原因。了解物种表型变化的遗传和分子基础，在实验室实验是可能的，将允许深入了解进化过程：什么类型的基因受到影响，什么类型的突变是在这些基因，以及有多少特定性状的变异是遗传和环境编码。这些信息将使我们更好地理解进化的变化，这将有助于分析人类基因组。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Determining how morphological differences arise is a subject of great importance in evolutionary biology but one that has been very difficult to address experimentally. However, with the recent advent of the field of evolutionary and developmental biology (evo-devo), it is now becoming feasible to bring new and interesting species into the lab to ask molecular and genetic questions. Most evo-devo studies either focus on macroevolution (large-scale) or microevolution (small-scale). Microevolutionary studies have been very valuable in discovering genetic changes causing morphological change because the time difference separating the populations in question is relatively short. One question that still remains is whether the path of microevolutionary change represents on a shorter time scale the path of changes on a larger time scale. To really understand the evolution of morphological change in speciation, we need to address the seemingly impossible goal of looking at the genetics of morphological evolution in species separated by great time differences. One way of bridging the gap between evolution on a short time scale and evolution on a longer time scale is to look at a morphology that shows great diversity both within species and between species. We propose to study antennal development molecularly and genetically across three different time scales: between insects and crustaceans, between different crustacean species, and within a crustacean species that has intraspecific antennal variation. We will be using a candidate gene approach, assaying gene expression of genes known to be involved in antennal development in insects in crustacean species with differing antennal morphologies. We will also functionally pursue some of these genes in the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, a species amenable to molecular analyses. Using a candidate genetic approach, we will examine intraspecific antennal variation in a species that has cave and surface dwelling populations. Studying the genetic and molecular basis behind phenotypic change is very important from a medical standpoint; one of the major goals in human genetics is to figure out what genetic changes are responsible for diseases and other conditions. Understanding the genetic and molecular basis of phenotypic change in species in which laboratory experiments are possible will allow insight into the process of evolution: what types of genes are affected, what types of mutations are in these genes, and how much of the variation in a particular trait is encoded genetically and environmentally. This information will yield a greater understanding of evolutionary change which will be helpful in the analysis of the human genome.