The developmental basis for phenotypic variability in the vertebrate skeleton

自然选择作用于表现型水平上的变异，但通过基因型水平上的变化推动进化。重要的是，这两个水平通过有机体发育联系在一起，但基因型与表型的对应是高度结构化和复杂的。具体来说，遗传变异转化为表型变异是正常发育过程的模式，其方式深刻影响复杂表型的可进化性。理解这种模式是如何发生的，或者进化的发展基础，是进化发育生物学的基本问题。我们的研究计划通过提供基因组变化如何改变发育过程以产生脊椎动物骨骼表型变异的机制解释来解决这个问题。

Natural selection acts on variation present at the level of the phenotype, but drives evolution through change at the level of the genotype. Importantly, these two levels are linked via organismal development but the correspondence of genotype to phenotype is highly structured and complex. Specifically, the translation of genetic into phenotypic variation is patterned by normal developmental processes in ways that profoundly influence the evolvability of complex phenotypes. Understanding how this patterning occurs, or the developmental basis for evolvability, is the fundamental question of evolutionary developmental biology. Our research program addresses this question by providing a mechanistic explanation of how genomic changes alter developmental processes to produce phenotypic variability in the vertebrate skeleton.