U.S.-Argentina Cooperative Research on Systematics of the American Marsupials Using Single-copy DNA-DNA Hybridization

该奖项支持约翰·A教授的参与。W.基尔希 威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的合作项目， 与布宜诺斯艾利斯大学的Osvaldo Reig教授进行的研究 旨在利用最新的生物化学和遗传学技术 分析以澄清姐妹群体关系的分类 各种有袋类动物中。 本研究的另一个目的是 来验证DNA进化的平均速度 在哺乳动物和鸟类中都是一样的。 确定主要有袋类动物的分类可以 首先是对进化过程的理解， 最终，在获得序列的完整描述时， 在有袋类动物和人类的进化。据信， 生物化学特征--例如，基因组--作为常规功能进化 因此，每一条不同的线都是从一个 共同的祖先以同样的速度进化。 鉴于这种演变， 任何两条线之间发散量将成比例 从它们最近的共同祖先开始， 所有线之间的分支点的顺序可以被精确地 重建。 参与该项目的研究人员将使用 单拷贝DNA-DNA杂交是一种相对简单的 比较两个物种的DNA，以评估 DNA的互补性。 遗传变异将是 使用电泳技术进行分析， 将使用直接染色体-染色体 比较技术。 美国调查人员擅长 杂交研究，而他们的阿根廷合作者将 进行剩余的分析研究;两组将 参与在阿根廷收集样本材料， 美国证实结构基因是在一个 随着时间的推移，可预测的方式将是重要的， 生物体之间的化学相似程度 与他们的“相关性”成正比--或者说是共同程度 祖先-和一个生物化学为基础的时间发展序列， 共同祖先的进化分支点 可能基于这个理论。

This award supports the participation of Prof. John A. W. Kirsch of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a program of cooperative research with Prof. Osvaldo Reig of the University of Buenos Aires aimed at using the latest techniques of biochemistry and genetic analysis to clarify the taxonomies of sister-group relationships among various marsupials. An additional object of this research is to test the proposition that the average rate of evolution in DNA is both regular and the same in mammals as in birds. Determining the taxonomies among the major groups of marsupials can be of great use, first in understanding processes of evolution and, eventually, in obtaining a complete description of the sequence of evolution in both marsupials and in man. It is believed that biochemical signatures--e.g., genomes--evolve as regular functions of time and therefore, each of different lines derived from a common ancestor evolves at the same rate. Given this evolution, the amount of divergence between any two lines will be proportional to the time elapsed since their most recent common ancestor, and the sequence of branching points among all lines may be accurately reconstructed. The researchers involved in this project will use single-copy DNA-DNA hybridization, a relatively simple technique of comparing the DNA from two species, in order to assess the magnitude of DNA complementarity. Genetic variability will be analyzed using electrophoretic techniques, and chromosomal development will be studied using direct chromosome-chromosome comparison techniques. The U.S. investigators are expert in hybridization studies, while their Argentinian collaborators will perform the remainder of the analytical studies; both groups will be involved in the collection of sample material in Argentina and the U.S. Verification that structural genes evolve in a predictable fashion with time would be important in demonstrating that the degree of chemical similarity among organisms is proportional to their "relatedness"--or degree of common ancestry--and a biochemically based time-developing sequence of evolutionary branching points from common ancestors should become possible based upon this theory.