Uncovering the evolutionary history and significance of Fibonacci spirals in vascular plants

揭示维管植物中斐波那契螺旋的进化历史和意义

• 批准号: EP/Y037138/1
• 负责人: Alexander Hetherington
• 金额: $ 161.85万
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY037138%2F1
• 关键词: Uncovering; evolutionary; history; significance; Fibonacci

Characterising the drivers of biological form over geological time continues to represent one of the grand challenges in evolutionarybiology. However, doing so has proved difficult as there are few study systems where it is possible to test the competing roles ofselection, constraint and chance. Land plants offer a largely overlooked but ideal study system for tackling these questions because oftheir excellent fossil record and close relationship between form, function and development. In WhyFib I will leverage all of thesebenefits to uncover the evolutionary drivers behind one of the key features of land plants, the arrangement of leaves.On theoretical grounds, plant leaves could be positioned on stems in an almost infinite number of possible arrangements. However,they are not. In fact, they are arranged in a very restricted number of discrete patterns, of which by far the most frequent are spiralsthat are described by integers of the Fibonacci series. Why Fibonacci spirals are so frequent in plants has perplexed scientists forcenturies and remains a major unanswered question.In WhyFib I will answer this question by taking a broad evolutionary approach, underpinned by my own interdisciplinary backgroundand new break-through methodologies developed in my lab. To uncover the evolutionary history of Fibonacci spirals I will combineresults gained from investigating development in non-seed plants with insights from newly collected fossils, analyses of quantitativetrait evolution and quantitative modelling approaches. I will then use these data, representing over 400 million years of evolution, totest the major competing hypotheses for the prevalence of Fibonacci spirals.The results of the project will provide a textbook case study for the drivers of biological form over geological time, while allowing meto solve the mystery of why Fibonacci spirals are so common in plants today.

表征地质时期生物形态的驱动因素仍然是进化生物学的重大挑战之一。然而，事实证明这样做很困难，因为很少有研究系统可以测试选择、约束和机会的竞争作用。陆地植物因其出色的化石记录以及形态、功能和发育之间的密切关系，为解决这些问题提供了一个很大程度上被忽视但理想的研究系统。在 WhyFib 中，我将利用所有这些好处来揭示陆地植物的关键特征之一（叶子的排列）背后的进化驱动因素。从理论上讲，植物叶子可以以几乎无限种可能的排列方式放置在茎上。然而，事实并非如此。事实上，它们以非常有限的离散模式排列，其中最常见的是由斐波那契数列的整数描述的螺旋。为什么斐波那契螺旋在植物中如此频繁地困扰了科学家几个世纪，并且仍然是一个悬而未决的重大问题。在 WhyFib 中，我将通过采用广泛的进化方法来回答这个问题，以我自己的跨学科背景和在我的实验室开发的新的突破性方法为基础。为了揭示斐波那契螺旋的进化历史，我将把研究非种子植物发育获得的结果与新收集的化石、定量性状进化分析和定量建模方法的见解结合起来。然后，我将使用这些代表超过 4 亿年进化的数据，来检验斐波那契螺旋盛行的主要竞争假设。该项目的结果将为地质时期生物形态的驱动因素提供教科书案例研究，同时允许我来解决为什么斐波那契螺旋线在当今植物中如此普遍的谜团。