Integrating large scale genetic, developmental, and anatomical evolution

这项研究的中心目标是发现基因、发育和解剖是如何在大规模进化事件中整合的。两个进化事件将是本研究的重点：鱼鳍到两栖动物肢体和恐龙手臂到鸟类翅膀的进化过渡。之所以选择这两个转变，是因为它们有丰富的化石记录，以及对鳍-肢体发育机制的现代研究丰富。通过学生项目驱动的跨学科研究计划，设计了一系列补充项目来实现这一目标。一组项目将调查保存在化石和现代解剖学记录中的每一次过渡的细节。完整的定性特征描述和三维表面成像将用于评估鳍和四肢在这些过渡过程中骨骼进化的节奏和模式。这项工作将决定在这些转变中进化变化的速度和时机。第二个项目将开展大规模的基因测序项目，利用尖端的大规模基因测序和生物信息学技术，确定在每个过渡阶段哪些基因与鳍和肢体发育有关。第三个项目将整合进化和遗传数据，以评估进化基因如何与这些转变中骨骼进化的细节相关联。这将通过检查被识别为对每一次转变重要的基因的表达模式、细胞迁移和增殖模式以及在一系列围绕每一转变的活物种中导致的组织水平的发展来完成。这项研究将对遗传进化和解剖进化之间的界面进行全面分析。这些结果将有助于我们理解生物系统是如何进化的，以及发育生物学如何影响大规模进化变化。

The central aim of this research is to discover how genes, development, and anatomy are integrated across large scale evolutionary events. Two evolutionary events will be the focus of this research: the fish fin to amphibian limb and dinosaur arm to bird wing evolutionary transitions. These two transitions are chosen because of their rich fossil record and the wealth of modern research on the developmental mechanics of fins the limbs. A series of complementary projects are designed to achieve this goal through a student project-driven interdisciplinary research program. One set of projects will investigate details of each transition as preserved in the fossil and modern anatomical record. A complete description of qualitative characters and three dimensional surface imaging will be used to assess the tempo and mode of skeletal evolution in the fins and limbs across these transitions. This work will determine the pace and timing of evolutionary change at these transitions. A second project will undertake a massive gene sequencing project to identify what genes involved in fin and limb development were evolving at each transition using cutting-edge large scale gene sequencing and bioinformatics technologies. A third project will integrate the evolutionary and genetic data to assess how the evolving genes may be associated with details of skeletal evolution across these transitions. This will be done by examining the expression patterns of genes identified as important for each transition, patterns of cell migration and proliferation, and resulting tissue-level development in a range of living species bracketing each transition. This research will derive a comprehensive analysis of the interface between genetic and anatomical evolution. These results will have application to our understanding of how biological systems evolve and how developmental biology influences large scale evolutionary change.