An integrative approach to elucidating the genotype-phenotype map of Drosophila wing shape and form.

了解突变影响表型的遗传和发育机制仍然是生物学中的一个突出问题。已经取得了重大进展，但尚不清楚这些发现是否延伸到规模较小的自然变异中，这些变异分离在混合遗传背景中，并影响“复杂”特征。特别是，相同(发育基因)中的分离等位基因在多大程度上对自然种群产生类似的影响通常是未知的。因此，迫切需要不仅确定，而且在发育方面表征和比较自然变异相对于诱变效应的突变效应。

Understanding the genetic and developmental mechanisms by which a mutation influences phenotypes remains an outstanding problem in biology. Significant progress has been made, yet it is unclear whether such findings extend to natural variants of smaller magnitude that segregate in mixed genetic backgrounds and influence "complex" traits. In particular the degree to which segregating alleles in the same (developmental genes) have similar effects in natural populations is generally unknown. Thus there is a critical need to not only identify, but to developmentally characterize and compare the mutational effects of natural variants relative to induced mutational effects.