The Role of Epigenetics in the Generation of Evolutionarily Important Variation

发展如何帮助决定我们在自然界中观察到的动物形态的多样性？本研究计划将研究生物发育部分之间的物理相互作用在决定生物成年形态中的作用。在发育中的组织和基因表达域之间，形状驱动的相互作用被认为在使变异为自然选择所利用的过程中起着重要作用。该研究项目将使用尖端的三维成像设备，为三棘棘鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）建立一个详细的表型和基因表达信息数据库。这种鱼反复经历了从海洋到淡水环境的快速进化转变，这些转变包括身体形状的重大变化。这种鱼是进化发育生物学中一个新兴的模型系统，它提供了一个独特的机会来询问有关发育和进化之间相互关系的有针对性的问题。这项研究将提供关于动物快速适应不断变化的环境所需的变异是如何由发育产生的新知识。这项工作产生的数据库将对许多其他研究小组有用，因为他们寻求更好地理解进化变化。在这里产生的知识将有助于为今后有关生物适应迅速变化的环境条件的方法的研究提供信息，这是保护全球生物多样性的关键工作。

How does development help to determine the diversity of animal form we observe in nature? This research program will examine the role of physical interactions among developing parts of organisms in determining organisms' adult form. Shape-driven interactions between developing tissues and gene expression domains are thought to play a major role in making variation available for natural selection to act upon. This research program will use cutting-edge three dimensional imaging equipment to produce a detailed database of phenotypic and gene-expression information for the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus. This fish has repeatedly undergone rapid evolutionary transitions from marine to freshwater environments, and these transitions involve major changes in body shape. This fish is an emerging model system in evolutionary developmental biology, and it offers a unique opportunity to ask targeted questions about the reciprocal relationship between development and evolution. This research will provide new knowledge about how the variation required for animals to adapt quickly to changing environments is generated by development. The database generated by this work will be of use to many other research groups as they seek to better understand evolutionary change. The knowledge generated here will help to inform future studies about the means by which organisms are adapting to rapidly changing environmental conditions, work which is key for conservation of global biodiversity.