DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolutionary and functional diversification of an ancient biopolymer in cnidarians.

最近在各种各样的动物中发现了几丁质，可能具有未知的功能。昆虫、虾和它们的亲戚的硬壳都是由几丁质制成的。但几丁质是一种天然聚合物，由一系列糖样分子连接而成，现在许多软体动物似乎都能产生这种分子。这项拟议的研究考察了珊瑚、海葵和水母群中几丁质的生物学特性。像这一群体中的其他物种一样，海葵线虫没有任何坚硬的身体部位，显然是由几丁质构成的。然而，这些海葵的基因组有三个基因编码一种几丁质产生酶。本研究将探讨甲壳素在这些软体动物中的分布。这项研究将确定几丁质是否在这些生物体的发育中起着不可缺少的作用。最终，这项研究将促进我们对动物如何利用糖共聚物进化出新结构的理解。这项研究还将为一名研究生提供培训，促进“科学女孩”项目的推广工作，并为本科生研究人员提供指导。几丁质在动物发育和再生中的作用尚未被广泛探索，尽管先前的工作表明糖共聚物可能在细胞行为和迁移中具有广泛的作用。初步资料显示，几丁质存在于刺胞动物的刺细胞（刺胞科）和软组织中。本研究将调查几丁质合成酶（CHS）基因在刺胞动物中的多样性。目的是确定CHS基因的共享和谱系特异性变化，这些变化可能与几丁质的不同作用有关。将调查五个刺胞纲的数十种刺胞动物。动物将被识别到物种水平，并从不同的组织类型收集组织。RNA将被分离并用于提供哪些组织中表达哪种CHS基因的组织特异性概况。基因表达模式在物种和组织之间的变化将允许推断几丁质作为结构或非结构化合物的进化多样化。

Chitin has recently has been discovered in a diverse range of animals and may serve as yet unknown functions. The hard shells of insects, shrimp and their relatives are made from chitin. But chitin is a natural polymer made by connecting a series of sugar-like molecules that now appears to be produced by many soft bodied animals. The proposed research examines the biology of chitin in the group containing corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish. Like other species in this group the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, lacks any hard body parts that would be obviously made of chitin. However, the genomes of these anemones have three genes that code for a chitin-producing enzyme. This research will investigate the distribution of chitin in these soft-bodied animals. The research will determine if chitin has an integral and unexpected role in the development of these organisms. Ultimately, this research will advance our understanding of how animals evolve novel structures using glycopolymers. This research will also provide training for a graduate student and foster outreach efforts for Girls in Science programs and mentorship of undergraduate researchers.Chitin's role in animal development and regeneration has not been widely explored, though prior work suggests that glycopolymers may have a widespread role in cell behavior and migration. Preliminary data show that chitin is present in cnidarian stinging cells (cnidae), as well as soft tissues. This study will survey the diversity of chitin synthase (CHS) genes across the cnidarians. The goal is to determine shared and lineage-specific changes to CHS genes that may correlate to diverse roles of chitin. Dozens of species of cnidarians from five cnidarian classes will be surveyed. Animals will be identified to species level and tissue collected from different tissue types. RNA will be Isolated and used to provide tissue specific profiles of which CHS genes are expressed in which tissues. Variation in the pattern of gene expression across species and tissues will allow inference of the evolutionary diversification of chitin as structural or nonstructural compound.