Dissertation Research: Dissecting the genetic basis of craniofacial variation in the threespine stickleback

人们对自然种群向新环境进化的遗传基础知之甚少。解决这个问题具有广泛的重要性，因为生物种群越来越需要适应不断变化的环境，否则就会灭绝。很少有研究发现对自然种群的适应有重要作用的基因。这项对脊椎动物头部快速进化的研究提供了一个独特的机会，可以对在不到50年的时间里经历了适应性进化的个体进行统计上的高强度研究。本研究结果可为深入了解快速进化的遗传和发育机制提供依据。脊椎动物的头部是一个令人印象深刻的结构，里面有一些最重要的器官。在脊椎动物中，头的形状是多种多样的，而且这种变化中的大部分似乎是适应性的。相反，头部形状发育的早期程序在脊椎动物中是高度保守的。这就引出了一个问题；在头部发育的保守遗传程序中，变异在哪里引导了头部形状的多样性？这个问题将通过确定三刺棘鱼头部形状变化的基因来回答。可视化和测量头部形态的新方法将与来自血统三刺棘鱼种群的基因组数据结合使用，以绘制与头部形状变化相关的基因组区域。

Little is known about the genetic basis of evolution to novel environments in natural populations. Addressing this problem is of broad importance because populations of organisms increasingly need to either adapt to a changing environment or go extinct. Few studies have identified genes important for adaptation in natural populations. This research into the rapid evolution of the vertebrate head offers a unique opportunity to conduct a statistically high-powered study on individuals that have undergone adaptive evolution in less than 50 years. The results of this study could provide insight into the genetic and developmental mechanisms of rapid evolution.The vertebrate head is an impressive structure that houses some of the most important organs. Across vertebrates head shapes are diverse, and much of this variation appears adaptive. In contrast the early programs of head shape development are highly conserved across vertebrates. This begs the question; where in the conserved genetic programs of head development does variation lie to direct such a diversity of head shapes? This question will be answered by identifying genes that underlie head shape variation in the threespine stickleback fish. New methods of visualizing and measuring head morphology will be used in conjunction with genomic data from a pedigreed threespine stickleback population to map genomic regions regions associated with head shape variation.