Molecular Genetics of Morphological Convergence in the Drosophilidae

生物学家根据生物共有的特征对生命进行分类。在生物学的大部分历史中，形态学一直是生物学家完成这一重要任务的主要特征来源。通常情况下，由于趋同，生物体的某些形态看起来很相似，如果处理不当，这种趋同会混淆和误导分类系统。本提案将试图检查一些这些令人困惑的趋同特征在苍蝇的发展基础。特别是，这个项目将研究一些非常奇怪的果蝇物种的头部发育过程中涉及的分子事件，希望能够发现趋同的基础。为这个项目计划的研究也将直接适用于我们对一般发展过程的理解。

Biologists categorize life on the basis of characters that organisms share. For most of the history of biology, morphology has been the prime source of characters for biologists to accomplish this important task. Often times, certain morphologies of organisms can look alike because of convergence, and this convergence can confuse and mislead classification systems if not properly treated. This proposal will attempt to examine the developmental basis of some of these confusing convergent characters in flies. In particular, this project will examine the molecular events involved in the development of the head of some very bizarre Drosophila species, in the hope that the basis of convergence can be discovered. The research planned for this project will also be directly applicable to our understanding of the developmental process in general.