Symposium -The 2007 Annual of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) January 3-7, 2007 in Phoenix, AZ

在过去的40年里，在理解生物解剖多样性的功能基础方面取得了很大的进展。最近，研究人员开始探索解剖结构的遗传和发育基础。为了理解进化转化，人们需要分析遗传、发育和表型水平上的变化，以及这些水平之间的整合。这需要构建遗传、发育和功能/选择情景。当前的兴趣集中在遗传和功能/选择情景上。令人信服地将遗传和功能/选择情景联系起来的发展情景很少，但见Beldade等人。2002年为一个例子)。必须包括发育过程的知识，以便继续整合发育遗传学和形态学。大多数形态结构是在许多基因的影响下形成的。因此，为了理解这些结构发育的进化，需要了解相关基因是如何直接或表观地相互作用来引导形态发生模式的。研讨会和随之而来的论文和后文将为将发育生物学、遗传学和功能形态学联系起来的综合研究提供强大的刺激。智力优势：在已知的基因活动和它们在形态发生中的作用之间存在着巨大的差距。因此，我们认为迫切需要促进遗传学家、发育生物学家和形态学家之间的交流。研讨会和相关活动(投稿论文和海报会议)将为拥有这两种方法的科学家提供重要的机会，学习如何使用他们的不同视角和方法来拓宽解释，产生更多可靠和可验证的假说，从而揭示脊椎动物结构的进化。广泛的影响：研讨会和相关活动(投稿论文和后续会议)将在综合与比较生物学学会的年会上举行，这是一个久负盛名的国际会议，吸引了对跨学科方法感兴趣的广泛的生物学家。研讨会论文将发表在《综合与比较生物学》上。

During the past 40 years great progress have been made in understanding the functionalbasis of anatomical diversity of organisms. More recently, researchers have begun tounravel the genetic and developmental basis of anatomical structures. To understandevolutionary transformations, one needs to analyze changes at genetic, developmental, andphenotypic levels, as well as the integration between these levels. This requires theconstruction of genetic, developmental and functional/selectional scenarios. Currentinterest focuses on genetic and functional/selectional scenarios. Developmental scenariosthat convincingly link genetic and functional/selectional scenarios are scarce, but seeBeldade et al. 2002 for an example). It is essential to include knowledge of developmentalprocesses for a continued integration of developmental genetics and morphology. Mostmorphological structures develop under the influence of many genes. Therefore, tocomprehend the evolution of the development of these structures, an understanding isneeded of how the involved genes interact, directly or epigenetically, in steeringmorphogenetic patterning. The symposium and accompanying contributed paper and postersessions will provide a strong stimulus for integrative studies that link developmentalbiology, genetics and functional morphology.Intellectual Merits: There is a wide gap between what is known about the activity of genesand their role in morphogenesis. Therefore, we perceive an urgent need to facilitatecommunication among geneticists, developmental biologists and morphologists. The symposiumand associated activities (contributed paper and poster sessions) will provide importantopportunities for scientists with these two approaches to learn how their differentperspectives and methodologies can be used to broaden interpretations and generate morerobust and testable hypotheses that will shed light on the evolution of vertebratestructure.Broader Impacts: The symposium and associated activities (contributed paper and postersessions) will be held at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative andComparative Biology, a well-established international meeting that attracts a broadspectrum of biologists who are interested in interdisciplinary approaches. Symposiumpapers will be published in Integrative and Comparative Biology.