Evolution and development of skeletal patterning

该研究项目将研究脊椎动物骨骼在大规模进化过渡中的发育和进化生物学。具体来说，它将探讨发展和进化的整合和变化之间的相互作用，在整个鱼类的骨骼四足动物和恐龙鸟类的过渡使用定量方法的形状描述和基因表达。选择这两个过渡是因为它们有丰富的化石记录和丰富的相关现存物种的发育生物学。一套免费的项目旨在弥合广泛的跨学科计划，研究从遗传进化，发展机制，生物成像和定量表型组学，进化模式，速率和变异的频谱。* 研究将侧重于成对附肢（鳍和四肢）和轴柱（脊柱和尾巴）的发展和进化。两者都经历了戏剧性的进化变化，在鱼类四足动物和鸟类的过渡，预计有同样戏剧性的发展变化。项目的第一阶段将重建这些解剖结构在这两个转变中的进化变化。这将通过向现有数据集添加定性和定量数据来完成，以估计这些过渡时的解剖学演变速率和类型。第二阶段将对选定的鱼类、两栖动物、哺乳动物、爬行动物和鸟类的现存胚胎中这两个解剖区域的内骨骼的骨骼发育（从未分化的间充质到凝聚，再到骨化骨）进行成像。这种成像将在我的监督下使用新的纳米聚焦微型CT机进行软组织成像，最近获得了CFI创新基金（PI：Vogel，一项综合定量生物学倡议[IQBI]）。第三阶段将测试这些区域骨骼模式早期阶段的遗传和表观遗传（环境）控制。一些结果预计将突出发展开关点，可能与快速的进化变化，而其他人可能会突出发展保护。* 这项研究将得出骨骼发育和进化的工作模型。这些结果将有助于我们理解生物系统如何进化，以及发育生物学如何影响大规模的进化变化。其他应用是开发用于成像、量化和比较解剖数据的高效工作流程。这对于客观地估计进化关系、描述发育变异和医学成像具有巨大的意义。

The research program will examine the developmental and evolutionary biology of the vertebrate skeleton across large scale evolutionary transitions. Specifically, it will explore the interplay between developmental and evolutionary integration and variation in the skeleton across the fish to tetrapod and dinosaur to bird transitions using quantitative methods of shape description and gene expression. The two transitions are chosen because of their rich fossil record and wealth of developmental biology of relevant extant species. A set of complimentary projects are designed to bridge a broad interdisciplinary program that researches a spectrum from genetic evolution, to developmental mechanics, to biological imaging and quantitative phenomics, to evolutionary patterns, rates, and variation. ***Research will focus on the development and evolution of paired appendages (fins and limbs) and the axial column (spine and tail). Both have undergone dramatic evolutionary changes across the fish-tetrapod and dinosaur-bird transitions and are expected to have had equally dramatic developmental changes. The first phase of projects will reconstruct the evolutionary changes of these anatomies across these two transitions. This will be done by adding qualitative and quantitative data to existing datasets to estimate rates and types of anatomical evolution at these transitions. The second phase will image the skeletal development (from undifferentiated mesenchyme, to condensations, to chondrified, and then ossified bone) of the endoskeleton of these two anatomical regions in extant embryos of selected fishes, amphibians, mammals, reptiles, and birds. This imaging will make intensive use soft tissue imaging with a new nano-focus micro CT machine under my supervision recently awarded in a CFI Innovation Fund (PI: Vogel, An integrated quantitative biology initiative [IQBI]). The third phase will test for genetic and epigenetic (environmental) control of early stages of skeletal patterning in these regions. Some results are expected to highlight developmental switch points that may be associated with rapid rates of evolutionary change whereas others may highlight developmental conservation. ***This research will derive a working model of skeletal development and evolution. The results will have application to our understanding of how biological systems evolve and how developmental biology influences large scale evolutionary change. Other applications are the development of an efficient work flow for imaging, quantifying, and comparing anatomical data. This has enormous implications for objectively estimating evolutionary relationships, describing developmental variation, and medical imaging.