CAREER: Integrating phylogenetics and development to investigate character evolution in hydrozoans

职业：整合系统发育学和发育来研究水螅动物的性状进化

• 批准号: 0953571
• 负责人: Paulyn Cartwright
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0953571&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Integrating; phylogenetics; development; investigate

This project aims to advance our understanding of the developmental basis of evolutionary change in Hydrozoa. Hydrozoans belong to the phylum Cnidaria, a group of marine invertebrates that represent one of the earliest animal groups. Although hydrozoans are constructed from just two cell layers and a few different cell types, they display incredible diversity in overall body form and life cycles. This study will test the hypothesis that hydrozoan diversity is in large part a result of evolutionary changes in the regulation of developmental genes. This will be investigated through examination of key morphological characters and developmental gene expression patterns in candidate genes. These character states and gene expression patterns will be analyzed within a phylogenetic framework, using methods that can test for correlations between changes in gene expression and morphological characters. This research will not only enhance our understanding of the genetic basis for morphological evolution, but will provide innovative methods for studying developmental biology within an evolutionary framework. These research methods will be integrated into courses on phylogenetics, evolution and development. Several undergraduates, two graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher will be trained on this project. Data from this research will be used to develop exercises for an existing educational website aimed to help those who teach evolution.

该项目旨在增进我们对水螅进化变化的发育基础的理解。水螅动物属于刺胞动物门，这是一组海洋无脊椎动物，是最早的动物类群之一。尽管水螅虫仅由两个细胞层和几种不同的细胞类型构成，但它们在整体身体形态和生命周期方面表现出令人难以置信的多样性。这项研究将检验水螅动物多样性在很大程度上是发育基因调控进化变化的结果的假设。这将通过检查候选基因的关键形态特征和发育基因表达模式来进行研究。这些性状状态和基因表达模式将在系统发育框架内进行分析，使用可以测试基因表达变化和形态特征之间相关性的方法。这项研究不仅将增强我们对形态进化遗传基础的理解，还将为在进化框架内研究发育生物学提供创新方法。 这些研究方法将被纳入系统发生学、进化和发展的课程中。该项目将培训多名本科生、两名研究生和一名博士后研究员。这项研究的数据将用于为现有的教育网站开发练习，旨在帮助那些教授进化论的人。