Acquisition of a Molecular Primatology DNA Analysis System

在国家科学基金会的支持下，纽约大学人类学系的托德·迪索特尔博士和他的同事们将购买一台ABI 3730 DNA分析系统和一台BioRad iCycler IQ实时聚合酶链式反应检测系统，以及支持设备。这一工具升级的关键特征是提高了数据积累的效率，并改进了可以解决的进化问题的种类。该序列分析系统是最新一代的高通量毛细管测序仪和基因分型仪，将成为集团实验室项目中使用的主要数据采集仪器。它将允许以不到当前设备一半的成本以五倍于当前设备可能的速率积累序列数据。聚合酶链式反应检测系统将是实验室越来越多地使用从考古材料、博物馆标本和生物碎屑(如头发或粪便)中恢复的古老和退化的DNA的核心。所有这些样本类型产生的DNA质量和数量都很低，但显然为解决来自这些来源的新问题提供了前所未有的希望。许多支持设备将用于人类学系DNA提取设施正在开发的新设施，包括聚合酶链式反应工作站罩和紫外线去污照明。到目前为止，迪索特尔的重点一直是卡特拉(东半球猴子和猿类)系统学、种群遗传学和保护遗传学。迪菲奥雷对新世界猴子也有类似的兴趣和项目。Jolly与Disotell密切合作，研究涉及旧大陆猴子，特别是狒狒的种群遗传学和系统地理学。迪·菲奥雷、迪索特尔和乔利还使用分子技术来测试和发展关于灵长类动物行为、社会和交配系统以及扩散模式的假说。安东将通过提供材料和假说来带来她在现代人类起源方面的专业知识，这些材料和假说将利用古代DNA进行测试。这一仪器将极大地促进上述所有研究计划的实施。无数的本科生和纽约市地区的高中生在实验室里开展他们的荣誉研究项目。来自纽约大学人类学和生物系的实习生、霍华德·休斯暑期研究员、哥伦比亚大学和纽约州立大学的研究生，他们是IGERT资助的纽约进化灵长类动物学联盟(NYCEP)的成员，以及外国同事和他们的学生与纽约大学教职员工一起培训和开展研究项目。由安东指导的骨骼生物学和法医学硕士项目的实习生也将在分子设施中培训和开展研究项目。通过这种仪器收集的数据和正在测试的假设具有超出人类学领域的更广泛的影响。从高中到博士后阶段的个人培训是我们研究和学术计划的一个同样重要的组成部分。纽约大学进行的这项研究与生物医学研究(例如SIV/HIV病毒及其宿主物种的进化生物学)和应用保护努力(例如评估高度濒危物种的遗传变异，如巴西的狮子Tamarin和西非的黑猩猩和大猩猩)相联系。

With National Science Foundation Support, Dr. Todd Disotell and his colleagues in the New York University Department of Anthropology will purchase an ABI 3730 DNA Analysis System and a BioRad iCycler iQ Real-Time PCR Detection System, along with support equipment. The key features of this instrumentation upgrade are the improvement in efficiency of data accumulation and an improvement in the kinds of evolutionary questions which can be addressed. The sequence analysis system is the latest generation high throughput capillary sequencer and genotyper, which will become the workhorse data acquisition instrument used in the group's laboratory's projects. It will permit accumulation of sequence data at five times the rate possible with the current equipment at less than half of the cost. The PCR detection system will be central to the laboratory's increasing use of ancient and degraded DNA recovered from archaeological materials, museum specimens, and biological detritus such as hair or feces. All of these sample types yield low quality and quantity DNA but clearly provide an unprecedented promise for addressing novel questions from such sources. Much of the support equipment will be used in a new facility being developed in the Anthropology Department's DNA Extraction Facility, including PCR work-station hoods and UV decontamination lighting. Disotell's focus to date has been on catarrhine (Old World monkey and ape) systematics, population genetics, and conservation genetics. Di Fiore has similar interests and project involving New World monkeys. Jolly collaborates closely with Disotell in research involving population genetics and phylogeography of Old World monkeys, especially baboons. Di Fiore, Disotell, and Jolly also use molecular techniques to test and develop hypotheses about primate behavior, social and mating systems, and dispersal patterns. Anton will be bringing her expertise in modern human origins by supplying materials and hypotheses to be tested utilizing ancient DNA. This instrumenation will greatly facilitate all of the above research programs. Numerous undergraduates and New York City area high school students carry out their honors research projects in the laboratory. Interns from the Departments of Anthropology and Biology at NYU, Howard Hughes Summer Research Fellows, Columbia University and CUNY graduate students who are members of the IGERT funded New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), as well as foreign colleagues and their students train and do research projects in conjunction with the NYU faculty. Interns in the MA program in skeletal biology and forensics directed by Anton will also train and carry out research projects in the molecular facilities. The data collected by this instrumentation and hypotheses being tested have a broader impact beyond the field of anthropology. The training of individuals from high school through the post-doctoral level is an equally important component of our research and academic program. The research carried out at NYU ties in with biomedical research (e.g. evolutionary biology of the SIV/HIV viruses and their host species) and applied conservation efforts (e.g. assessing genetic variation in highly endangered species such as lion tamarins in Brazil and chimpanzees and gorillas in West Africa).