Evolution of developmental functions within the Dlx gene family

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Understanding how changes in animal genomes permitted the evolution of the staggering diversity of life on earth is a major challenge in modern biology. Most of the differences between groups of animals represent variations in the embryonic developmental program. Understanding the relationship between changes in the structure and function of genes that regulate development and the resulting morphology is therefore key to understanding variations in body plans. Duplication of genes with subsequent divergence of the duplicated copies and their recruitment to new functions are thought to be key genomic contributions to increased morphological complexity and diversity. This is thought to have happened in a lineage of animals that evolved into the vertebrates (animals, like us, with backbones). Looking at animals alive today, we find that invertebrates like insects often have a single version of a particular gene, whereas humans and other vertebrates usually have multiple related (homologous) genes that carry out new and different functions depending upon where in the body they are active. We are studying the evolution of function in the Dlx family of regulatory genes to understand the relationships between changes in the expression and function of gene regulators and animal evolution. This work will improve our knowledge of the mechanisms that control animal development at the molecular level and also how these mechanisms have changed over evolutionary time. This is basic research that will have an impact on the fields of developmental, cell, and evolutionary biology at an international level.