Evolution of developmental functions within the Dlx gene family

了解动物基因组的变化如何使地球上惊人的生命多样性得以进化，是现代生物学的一个重大挑战。动物群之间的大多数差异代表了胚胎发育程序的差异。因此，了解调节发育的基因的结构和功能变化与由此产生的形态之间的关系是理解体型变化的关键。基因的复制及其随后的分化和新功能的招募被认为是增加形态复杂性和多样性的关键基因组贡献。这被认为发生在进化成脊椎动物（像我们这样有脊骨的动物）的动物谱系中。看看今天活着的动物，我们发现像昆虫这样的无脊椎动物通常只有一个特定基因的单一版本，而人类和其他脊椎动物通常有多个相关的（同源）基因，这些基因根据它们在体内的活性部位来执行新的和不同的功能。我们正在研究调节基因Dlx家族的功能进化，以了解基因调节基因的表达和功能变化与动物进化之间的关系。这项工作将提高我们在分子水平上控制动物发育机制的知识，以及这些机制在进化过程中是如何变化的。这是一项基础研究，将在国际水平上对发育、细胞和进化生物学领域产生影响。

Understanding how changes in animal genomes permitted the evolution of the staggering diversity of life on earth is a major challenge in modern biology. Most of the differences between groups of animals represent variations in the embryonic developmental program. Understanding the relationship between changes in the structure and function of genes that regulate development and the resulting morphology is therefore key to understanding variations in body plans. Duplication of genes with subsequent divergence of the duplicated copies and their recruitment to new functions are thought to be key genomic contributions to increased morphological complexity and diversity. This is thought to have happened in a lineage of animals that evolved into the vertebrates (animals, like us, with backbones). Looking at animals alive today, we find that invertebrates like insects often have a single version of a particular gene, whereas humans and other vertebrates usually have multiple related (homologous) genes that carry out new and different functions depending upon where in the body they are active. We are studying the evolution of function in the Dlx family of regulatory genes to understand the relationships between changes in the expression and function of gene regulators and animal evolution. This work will improve our knowledge of the mechanisms that control animal development at the molecular level and also how these mechanisms have changed over evolutionary time. This is basic research that will have an impact on the fields of developmental, cell, and evolutionary biology at an international level.