DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolvability and diversification: testing macroevolutionary predictions in cone snails.

理解为什么有些生物群比其他生物群更多样化是进化生物学的一个中心目标。可进化性，或一个谱系进化变化的内在能力，被认为影响着生命之树的多样性差异。在较长的进化时间尺度上，具有较高进化能力的生物群体应该(a)具有较高的物种丰富度和(b)具有较高的形态多样性。圆锥螺属的肉食性物种提供了一个独特的机会来测试进化假设，因为它们使用特定猎物的毒液来捕获猎物，并且在齿状形态上表现出广泛的多样性。利用毒液基因的多样性和根状形态的差异，本研究将记录进化如何影响该属的生物多样性。一名研究生将接受培训，研究结果将通过加州大学洛杉矶分校的“探索你的宇宙”公共科学活动广泛传播。还将通过与巴厘岛的印度尼西亚生物多样性研究中心的合作，加强与印度尼西亚共和国的国际研究基础设施。此外，该研究项目产生的数据也将导致新的毒液蛋白的快速发现，大大增加这些天然产物的数量，可以开发用于治疗慢性疼痛，癫痫和其他神经系统疾病。锥螺的毒液多样性是广泛的，这种多样性大部分是通过基因复制产生的。理论预测，更高的基因多样性赋予更大的潜力，以产生新的特征专业化和适应。因此，如果Conus的毒液基因多样性导致不同程度的可进化性，那么可进化性将与(a)物种形成率，(b)毒液蛋白质结构多样性，(c)腺状形态进化率呈正相关。研究人员将使用下一代测序技术来生成数据，这些数据将用于重建Conus的分子系统发育，以及关于该谱系中毒液基因多样性的物种水平数据。研究人员还将使用扫描电子显微镜生成的图像来量化放射状形态。有了这些数据，研究人员将使用比较系统发育方法来测试可进化性对锥螺长期多样化的影响。

Understanding why some groups of organisms are more diverse than others is a central goal in evolutionary biology. Evolvability, or the intrinsic capacity of a lineage for evolutionary change, is thought to influence disparities in diversity across the tree of life. Over long evolutionary time scales, groups of organisms that have higher evolvability should (a) have higher species richness and (b) display greater morphological diversity. Carnivorous species within the cone snail genus Conus offer a unique opportunity to test the hypothesis of evolvability because they use prey-specific venom to capture prey and exhibit extensive diversity in radular morphology. Using the diversity of venom genes and differences in radular morphology, this research will document how evolvability may shape biodiversity in the genus. One graduate student will be trained and results from the research will be broadly disseminated through the 'Exploring Your Universe' public science event at UCLA. International research infrastructure with the Republic of Indonesia will also be enhanced through collaboration with the Indonesian Biodiversity Research Center in Bali. In addition, data generated from this research project will also lead to the rapid discovery of novel venom proteins, greatly increasing the number of these natural products that could be developed for the treatment of chronic pain, epilepsy and other neurological diseases. Venom diversity in cone snails is extensive, with much of this diversity having arisen through gene duplication. Theory predicts that higher gene diversity confers a greater potential to generate novel traits for specialization and adaptation. Therefore, if venom gene diversity in Conus gives rise to varying levels of evolvability, then evolvability will be positively correlated with (a) speciation rates, (b) structural diversity of venom proteins, and (c) evolutionary rates of radular morphology. Researchers will use next-generation sequencing to generate data that will be used to reconstruct a molecular phylogeny of Conus, in addition to species-level data on venom gene diversity within the lineage. The researchers will also quantify radular morphology using images generated from scanning electron microscopy. With these data, the researchers will use comparative phylogenetic methods to test the influence of evolvability on long-term diversification within cone snails.