CAREER: The Evolution of Simple Versus Complex Biomechanical Systems

职业：简单与复杂生物力学系统的演变杰弗里托德斯特里尔曼佐治亚理工学院理解复杂性是科学的中心目标。计算、物理学、生物学和工程学的进步产生了一套描述复杂系统的设计原则。从理论上讲，互联网、热带雨林和细胞内的蛋白质等各种系统都是类似的组织。有人认为，复杂性是这些设计原则的一个紧急属性，高度复杂的系统与简单的系统有质的不同。复杂和简单的系统之间的区别已经说明了使用生物力学模型，预测力和运动（或运动学传输，KT）的硬骨鱼的口颌。下颌的简单杠杆模型表现出形式和功能之间的一对一关系;组成骨长度的比例差异产生KT的比例差异。相比之下，更复杂的前颌力学模型（称为4杆联动系统）显示出形式到功能的非线性、多对一映射;多个形状的4杆配置产生相同的KT。了解形态如何映射到功能是理解简单和复杂生物力学系统如何进化的第一步，但我们对这些系统的遗传基础几乎一无所知。这项研究计划融合了东非马拉维湖慈鲷鱼的生物力学和进化基因组学，以研究复杂性如何连接到基因组中，以及复杂系统是否具有不同于简单系统的遗传结构。研究涉及博士后，研究生，本科生（生物学和工程）和高中研究员。该教育计划围绕慈鲷颌骨的力学整合了研究和教学，以促进首席研究员实验室之外的深远影响。该项目将通过格鲁吉亚水族馆的互动展览，促进亚特兰大市公立高中学生和教师以及公众在数学和科学方面的实践学习。

CAREER: The Evolution of Simple Versus Complex Biomechanical SystemsJeffrey Todd StreelmanGeorgia Institute of TechnologyUnderstanding complexity is a central goal of science. Advances in computation, physics, biology and engineering have engendered a set of design principles that characterize complex systems. Theoretically, systems as varied as the Internet, tropical rainforests, and the proteins within a cell are similarly organized. It has been suggested that complexity is an emergent property of these design principles and that highly complex systems are qualitatively different from simple ones. The distinction between complex and simple systems has been illustrated using biomechanical models that predict force and motion (or kinematic transmission, KT) in the oral jaws of bony fishes. Simple lever models of the lower jaw exhibit a one-to-one relationship between form and function; proportional differences in the lengths of component bones produce proportional differences in KT. By contrast, more complex models of anterior jaw mechanics (called 4-bar linkage systems) show a nonlinear, many-to-one mapping of form to function; multiply shaped 4-bar configurations yield the same KT. Knowledge of how form maps to function is a first step to understand how simple and complex biomechanical systems evolve, yet we know almost nothing about the genetic basis of these systems. This research plan fuses biomechanics and evolutionary genomics in cichlid fishes from Lake Malawi, East Africa to ask how complexity is wired into genomes and whether complex systems have genetic architectures that differ from simpler systems. Research involves post-docs, graduate students, undergraduates (in Biology and Engineering) and high school fellows. The education plan integrates research and teaching around the mechanics of cichlid jaws to foster far-reaching impact outside of the principal investigator's lab. This project will facilitate hands-on learning in math and science among public high school students and teachers from the city of Atlanta, and the general public through interactive exhibits at the Georgia Aquarium.