Molecular mechanisms of speciation and macroevolution

以维多利亚湖慈鲷为研究对象，探讨了物种形成的遗传机制和哺乳动物形态特征的进化。研究发现：1)由B染色体引起的独特的性别决定系统；2)信息素受体基因高度二态性的等位基因多样性；3)婚礼颜色与视蛋白调节的视觉敏感性之间存在明显的相关性。此外，通过构建遗传连锁图谱，我们确定了维多利亚湖慈鲷常染色体中可能存在的性别决定区域。在哺乳动物的进化中，我们发现了几种amnseine1衍生的发育基因远端增强子，这些基因在哺乳动物间脑和胼胝体投射神经元中表达。揭示了这些增强子的分子功能和进化过程。我们关于物种形成和大尺度形态进化的分子机制的研究结果有望适用于一般的广义动物。

We investigated the genetic mechanism of speciation by focusing on the Lake Victoria cichlid species and that of the evolution of mammalian morphological characteristics. We found, 1) the unique sex determination system caused by the B chromosome, 2) highly dimorphic allelic diversity of pheromone receptor genes, and 3) the clear correlation between nuptial colors and visual sensitivities tuned by opsins. In addition, by constructing a genetic linkage map, we identified the putative sex determination region in the autosome of the Lake Victoria cichlids. For mammalian evolution, we identified several AmnSINE1-derived distal enhancers for developmental genes expressed in mammalian diencephalon and callosal projection neurons. We revealed the detailed molecular function and evolutionary process of the enhancers. Our findings concerning the molecular mechanisms of speciation and large-scale morphological evolution are expected to be applicable in broad animals in general.