Comparative cell-lineage analysis in Deuterostomia

后口动物的发生和脊索动物特征的进化一直存在争议。分子遗传学导致拓扑学和形态学特征的冲突，较小的动物类群往往被忽视。然而，形态学拥有大量的信息字符，目前正在通过基于互联网的数据库，协作本体，以及数据文档和字符编码的新标准进行转换。在本提案中，我请求提供资金，以进一步促进这一奋进，重点是比较个体发育细胞谱系分析后口动物。通过4D显微镜收集的精确细胞谱系数据已成功地用于被囊类Oikopleura dioica的示例性研究（Stach等人，2008年），并证实其在系统发育研究中的有用性。在这里，我特别建议比较研究细胞谱系的几个海鞘物种，头索动物，和棘皮动物。这将大大拓宽我们的概念，在细胞水平上的发展和形态发生内后口动物的演变。通过利用所得到的数据，在合作开发的系统发育矩阵，集成在在线平台的形态-D-基地，后口动物形态的后生动物的进化的贡献将大大提前。

The phylogeny of deuterostomes and evolution of chordate features is controversially debated. Molecular phylogenies result in conflicting topologies and morphological characters and lesser animal taxa are often ignored. However, morphology hosts a plethora of informative characters and is currently transformed through internet-based databases, collaborative ontologies, and new standards in data documentation and character coding. In the present proposal, I request funding to further contribute to this endeavor, focusing on comparative ontogenetic cell-lineage analyses in deuterostomes. Precise cell-lineage data gathered by 4D-microscopy have been successfully used in an exemplary study of the tunicate Oikopleura dioica (Stach et al., 2008) and confirmed their usefulness in phylogenetic studies. Here, I specifically propose to comparatively investigate the cell-lineage of several ascidian species, a cephalochordate, and an echinoderm. This will significantly broaden our conception of the evolution of development at the cellular level and of morphogenesis within deuterostomes. By utilizing the resulting data in collaboratively developed phylogenetic matrices that are integrated in the online-platform Morph-D-Base, the contribution of deuterostome morphology to metazoan phylogenies will be considerably advanced.