Developmental mechanisms conferring an adaptive transition in the evolution of compound eyes

动物的视觉系统在形态上有很大的差异。眼睛形态差异的发展是由于需要适应动物所经历的光条件，也受到动物的行为和生存反应能力的影响。了解设计视觉方式的许多功能蓝图以及这些设计所需的基因将直接影响我们关于视觉系统比较生物学的基本知识。此外，这项工作有可能加深我们对我们自己的人眼的理解，并揭示产生用于光探测和观察的人工系统的基本设计原则。这项研究将比较和确定导致两种近缘昆虫眼睛形态和光敏性差异的基因活性差异。该项目将把研究活动与印第安纳大学设立的学术项目结合起来，鼓励代表人数不足的少数族裔参与STEM学科。此外，它还将为教师提供培训，使他们能够开发新的课程和方法，以提高小学和高中的科学素养。对位复眼的光感受器的单个条纹体在粉虫Tribolium的小眼中以融合/闭合的条纹状结构组织，或在果蝇的小眼小眼中以开放/分离的条纹状结构组织。该奖项的研究将集中在如何修改保守的细胞过程，以在构建功能组织的限制内产生这些类型的适应性转变。这项研究的三个目标是：1)确定已知的果蝇蛋白质的Tribolium同源物的空间和时间表达谱；2)研究Tribolium中不存在或存在这些蛋白质的功能后果；3)开发和应用TAL效应核酸酶(TALEN)在Tribolium中产生零突变，目的是测试目标1和2中所研究的基因之间的遗传关系。总体来说，这项研究将为如何适应、修改或消除保守的细胞机制以产生新的适应性形态组织提供基本的见解。

Animal visual systems vary greatly in morphological form. Development of differences in eye morphology are driven by a need to adapt to the light conditions that an animal experiences and also by the animal's behaviors and survival response repertoire. Understanding the many functional blueprints for designing ways to see and the genes required for these designs will have a direct impact on our basic knowledge regarding the comparative biology of visual systems. Additionally, this work has the potential to deepen our understanding of our own human eyes and also to reveal fundamental design principles for generating artificial systems for light detection and seeing. This study will compare and determine the variations in gene activity that contribute to the differences in morphological form and light sensitivities of eyes in two closely related insect species. The project will integrate research activities with academic programs established at Indiana University that encourage the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines. Additionally, it will provide training for teachers to enable them to develop new curriculum and methodology to improve science literacy in elementary and high schools.The individual rhabdomeres of photoreceptors of apposition compound eyes are organized in a "fused/closed" rhabdom configuration in the ommatidia of the flour beetle, Tribolium, or in an "open/separated" rhabdom configuration in the ommatidia of the fruit fly, Drosophila. The studies in this award will focus on how conserved cellular processes are modified to produce these kinds of adaptive transitions within the constraints of constructing a functional tissue. The three objectives of this study are designed to 1), ascertain the spatial and temporal expression profiles of the Tribolium homologs of the Drosophila proteins known to be required for the generation of open rhabdoms; 2), address the functional consequence of the absence or presence of these proteins in Tribolium; and 3), develop and apply the use of TAL effector nucleases (TALENs) to generate null mutations in Tribolium with the goal of testing genetic relationships between the genes investigated in objectives 1 and 2. Overall this investigation will provide fundamental insights into how conserved cellular mechanisms are adapted, modified, or eliminated to generate novel and adaptive morphological organizations.