Evolutionary Genetic Approaches to Dental Anthropology

[408402] Ken Weiss牙齿及其比较特征在体质人类学中具有核心重要性。它们是保存最完好的特征之一，因此在化石研究中至关重要。然而，基因对它们的发育和不同形态的控制根本不为人所知。这个开创性的项目将使用进化方法，将我们在小鼠发育遗传学方面获得的知识应用于灵长类动物牙齿变异。Dlx和Msx基因将被寻找在牙齿中表达的调控基因。一个基因的编码和邻近的调控区域将在一个同形异体物种、一个异形异体物种和四个不同的灵长类动物中进行测序。比对的序列将用于寻找在整个牙齿进化过程中保守的控制元件，以及在灵长类动物进化过程中，其变异可能对应于牙齿形态变化的元件。

9408402 Ken Weiss Teeth and their comparative features have been of central importance in physical anthropology. They are among the best-preserved traits, and so are critical in fossil studies. Yet the genetic control over their development and different morphologies is not understood at all. This ground-breaking project will use evolutionary approaches to adapt the knowledge we have gained on developmental genetics in mice to primate dental variation. The Dlx and Msx genes will be searched for regulatory genes expressed in teeth. The coding and adjacent regulatory regions of one gene will be sequenced in a homodont species, and a divergent heterodont, and four divergent primates. The aligned sequences will be searched for control elements conserved across the entire evolution of teeth, and those elements whose variation may correspond phylogenitically to changes in dental morphology during primate evolution.