Wilson
Fakultäten » Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät » Evolutionsbiologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Institut für » Evolutionary Biology » Prof. Dr. Tony Wilson (ausgetreten) » Wilson
Current research project
| Title / Titel | Male pregnancy in seahorses and pipefish (Order Syngnathiformes): Evolution of a complex trait | ||||||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | How do complex reproductive traits such as pregnancy evolve? Species of seahorses and pipefish (family Syngnathidae) all exhibit male pregnancy, an extreme form of paternal care. During pregnancy, the male incubates the eggs, osmoregulates and may also provide nutrients to developing offspring and then releases fully developed juveniles. However, the genetic basis of this complex and highly variable trait remains unclear. We are studying the evolution of male pregnancy from basal to complex syngnathid fishes through genetic comparisons of representative taxa of each pregnancy type. Using two complementary approaches (subtractive hybridization and cDNA-AFLP), we will identify differentially expressed genes during pregnancy of two candidate species. These two species reflect the most complex (Hippocampus abdominalis) and simplest forms of pregnancy (Nerophis ophidion) in the family. Candidate gene sequences will be collected from representatives of all pregnancy types and, with the aid of a fully resolved phylogenetic tree of the group, sets of differentially expressed genes will be associated with increasing levels of morphological complexity during the evolution of the group. This research will develop the seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis as a model organism for genetic and genomic studies, through the establishment of genomic resources (BAC library, cDNA libraries, sex markers). Lab-rearing conditions for a variety of syngnathid fishes will be optimized to allow for future experimental work. Both gene sequence and regulatory differences are expected to underlie the development and diversification of morphological complexity of brooding structures in syngnathid fishes. | ||||||||
| Publications / Publikationen | Sommer S, Whittington CM, Wilson AB (2012) Standardized classification of early development in male-pregnant pipefish, seahorses, and seadragons (Family Syngnathidae). BMC Developmental Biology, 12, 39.Wilson AB, Orr JW (2011) The evolutionary origins of syngnathid fishes. Journal of Fish Biology, 78, 1603-1623.Stölting KN, Meudt HM, Clarke AC, Blanckenhorn WU, Wilson AB (2011) Cost-effective fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism analyses. Molecular Ecology Notes, 11, 494-502.Stoelting KN, Gort G, Wüst C, Wilson AB (2009) Eukaryotic transcriptomics in silico: Optimizing cDNA AFLP efficiency. BMC Genomics, 10, 565.Stoelting K, and Wilson AB (2007) Male pregnancy in seahorses and pipefish: Beyond the mammalian model. BioEssays, 29, 884-896.Wilson AB, Ahnesjö I, Vincent A, and Meyer A (2003). The dynamics of male brooding, mating patterns and sex-roles in pipefishes and seahorses (Family Syngnathidae). Evolution, 57, 1374-1386.Wilson AB, Vincent A, Ahnesjö I, and Meyer A (2001). Male pregnancy in seahorses and pipefishes (Family Syngnathidae): Rapid diversification of paternal brood pouch morphology inferred from a molecular phylogeny. Journal of Heredity, 92, 159-166. | ||||||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | Functional Genomics, Gene Expression Reproduction, Syngnathidae, Seahorse | ||||||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Universität Zürich (position pursuing an academic career), Forschungskredit der Universität Zürich, Nachwuchsförderungskredit der Universität Zürich, SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung) |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Jan 2006 to Jul 2013 |