| 项目编号: | 1457735
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| 项目名称: | The Phylogeny and Evolution of Cetacea: Resolution of Rapid Radiations and a Molecular Blueprint for Modern Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises |
| 作者: | Mark Springer
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| 承担单位: | University of California-Riverside
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| 批准年: | 2014
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| 开始日期: | 2015-04-01
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| 结束日期: | 2018-03-31
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| 资助金额: | USD614789
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| 资助来源: | US-NSF
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| 项目类别: | Continuing grant
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| 国家: | US
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| 语种: | 英语
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| 特色学科分类: | Biological Sciences - Environmental Biology
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| 英文关键词: | cetacea
; researcher
; remarkable evolutionary change
; modern whale
; gene
; best-documented macroevolutionary transition
; major macroevolutionary transition
; evolutionary origin
; evolutionary genesis
; cetacean evolution
; modern cetacean
; phylogenomic blueprint
; cetacean evolutionary history
; evolutionary principle
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| 英文摘要: | The evolutionary origin of Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) in the Eocene, >50 million years ago, ranks among the best-documented macroevolutionary transitions. To non-scientists, this move from a terrestrial habitat to a committed aquatic lifestyle might seem improbable, yet the wholesale changes in anatomy required for this transformation are recorded in the fossil record. With the advent of genomics, it is now possible to study this remarkable evolutionary change at the molecular level. In this project, researchers will document the genetic basis of traits that were altered in the evolutionary genesis of these secondarily aquatic mammals and trace the molecular changes that produced a modern whale. In this project, researchers will train a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students, and multiple undergraduate interns at UC Riverside, a minority serving institution. The ethnically diverse makeup of UC Riverside provides an opportunity to bring cutting edge research to students who are historically underrepresented in science. Results from the research also will be incorporated into coursework and provide content for museum displays focused on evolutionary principles. Grant participants, including students, will collaborate with staff at the San Diego Natural History Museum to relate exciting research breakthroughs in a revitalized 'Fossil Mysteries' exhibit with bilingual educational modules.
For Cetacea, standard phylogenetic analyses of fossil and molecular data have been used to reconstruct major phenotypic transformations in the group, with fossils providing signposts that place key evolutionary innovations relative to Earth history. Yet, despite ongoing phylogenetic studies based on large datasets, a fully resolved reconstruction of cetacean evolution has been elusive. The researchers propose a three-pronged approach to an enhanced study of cetacean evolutionary history that will utilize >500 genes to: 1) compare alternate approaches to the reconstruction of species trees using a robust sample of genetic data, 2) resolve problematic systematic relationships within Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins), Phocoenidae (porpoises), and Balaenopteroidea (rorquals and gray whale), 3) synthesize a phylogenomic blueprint for modern cetaceans. Exon capture and next generation sequencing methods will be employed to rapidly characterize candidate loci that represent genes predicted to have undergone adaptive or degenerative change. The researchers will target genes that are critical for behavioral and anatomical features that are highly derived in the group, including loci implicated in vision, hearing, olfaction, deep diving, aging, tooth development, baleen formation, and brain size. The end result will be the first, detailed, genomic characterization of a major macroevolutionary transition that is also documented by extensive fossil evidence. |
| 资源类型: | 项目
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| 标识符: | http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/94967
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| Appears in Collections: | 影响、适应和脆弱性
气候减缓与适应
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| Recommended Citation: | |
Mark Springer. The Phylogeny and Evolution of Cetacea: Resolution of Rapid Radiations and a Molecular Blueprint for Modern Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. 2014-01-01.
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