DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Exploring the parallel evolution of duplicate sodium channel genes during the convergent evolution of electric organs in teleosts

为什么一个重要肌肉基因的古老副本进化成为两个电鱼家族中用于电通信的新器官系统的组成部分？有可能这个基因对肌肉的作用不如另一个基因的副本那么重要，因此使肌肉更容易发育。让它在新的细胞类型中进化出新的功能。研究人员将测量电鱼谱系中几个近亲的基因表达模式，以确定该基因在电鱼中获得新功能之前是否发生了表达变化。该项目还将在电鱼的近亲中分别敲除这两个基因，以确定对肌肉功能的相对影响。该项目将展示表达进化如何促进了该基因的功能进化。基因复制是基因组中新基因的主要来源，在新细胞和器官系统的进化中起着重要作用。该项目旨在确定导致重复基因的新功能进化的事件序列，使其在功能上与祖先基因不同。这将提供深入了解复制后基因进化背后的分子机制，以及这与新器官系统进化的关系。该项目还为几名本科生提供研究培训，联合项目负责人将通过一个通过模拟展示进化的公共网站宣传项目的发现。

Why did an ancient duplicate copy of an important muscle gene evolve to become an integral part of a novel organ system used for electrical communication in two families of electric fishes? It is possible that this gene was less essential to muscle than the other duplicate copy of the gene, therefore making it ?easier? for it to evolve a new function in a new cell type. The investigators will measure the patterns of gene expression among several close relatives of the electric fish lineages to determine if expression of this gene changed before it gained a new function in electric fish. This project will also knock out the two genes individually in a close relative of electric fish to determine the relative impact on muscle function. This project will demonstrate how expression evolution may have facilitated functional evolution of this gene.Gene duplication is the primary source of new genes in a genome and is an important player in the evolution ofnovel cells and organ systems. This project seeks to ascertain the sequence of events that led to the evolution of a novel function for a duplicate gene which made it functionally distinct from the ancestral gene. This will provide insights into the molecular mechanisms behind gene evolution after duplication and how that relates to the evolution of novel organ systems. The project also provides research training to several undergraduate students, and the co-PI will promote findings of the project through a public website demonstrating evolution through simulations.