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CANCELLED: CDB Seminar - Professor Jason Head, University of Cambridge
08 March 2023, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SEMINAR HAS BEEN CANCELLED Title: How (not?) to make a snake: Anatomical tests of regulatory gene function in the evolution of vertebrate body forms.
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
Michael Wright – Cell and Developmental Biology
Talk abstract: Transgenic methods and fate mapping in a small number of model taxa have successfully demonstrated the roles of transcription factors in patterning anatomies during embryogenesis and have led to hypotheses of evolutionary changes in regulatory gene network function in the origins of new body forms. In vertebrates, the evolution of axial and appendicular skeletal novelties has been linked with shifts or loss of function in the Hox code, but the skeletal correlates to changes in function have not been examined in a detailed comparative anatomical context. Modelling the evolutionary histories of quantified osteology in extant and fossil taxa in a phylogenetic framework does not support simple hypotheses of Hox function change in the evolution of the tetrapod axial skeleton and the snake-like body form in squamate reptiles. Instead, these histories can be used to more accurately infer the evolution of regulatory gene function seen in model taxa based on the phylogenetic distribution of phenotypes.
Suggested references:
Head, J. J., and P. D. Polly. 2015. Evolution of the snake body form reveals homoplasy in amniote Hox gene function. Nature, 520:86-89. doi: 10.1038/nature14042.
Jones, K. E., K. D. Angielczyk, P. D. Polly, J. J. Head, V. Fernandez, J.K., Lungmus, S. Tulga, and S.E. Pierce. 2018. Fossils reveal the complex evolutionary history of the mammalian regionalized spine. Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aar3126
Criswell, K.E., L.E. Roberts, E.T. Koo, J.J. Head, and J.A. Gillis. 2021. hox gene expression predicts tetrapod-like axial regionalization in the skate, Leucoraja erinacea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 118(51). doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2114563118
Host: Ryan Felice, UCL CDB
About the Speaker
Professor Jason Head
Professor of Vertebrate Evolution and Ecology at University of Cambridge
I am a broadly-trained vertebrate paleontologist and my research interests align along two axes, one primarily ecological and one primarily evolutionary developmental: 1) the evolution of modern tropical vertebrate clades, focusing on the relationship between fauna and environment during the Paleogene and Neogene; and 2) the evolution of vertebrate body forms and inferring the roles of regulatory genetic networks and novel developmental mechanisms from anatomy of extant and fossil taxa. Although the questions I address and the methods I employ are not taxon-specific, my focus is on reptiles because they are diverse, important components of modern ecosystems, possess a dense fossil record during the last 66 million years, and exhibit extraordinary plasticity in body form and ecophenotype, including axial elongation, limblessness, and the evolution of shells. My work integrates phenomic data, as quantified and qualified skeletal anatomy derived from field and museum studies, with molecular, environmental, and paleoclimate datasets. The newest component of my research is the integration of ecometric trait data from fossil vertebrates with modern records to help forecast biotic responses to anthropogenic climate change as a component of taxon-free conservation paleobiology.
More about Professor Jason Head