International team to investigate origins of evolutionary innovation
A University of Aberdeen researcher has secured a prestigious international grant to investigate how entirely new traits evolve in animals.
Dr Victoria Sleight is part of an international collaboration awarded US$1.2m by the Human Frontier Science Programme (HFSP) to study the genetic mechanisms underlying evolutionary innovation.
The three-year project will bring together researchers from the UK, the United States and Japan to investigate how new biological characteristics arise using molluscs as model organisms.
Rather than focusing on the emergence of entirely new genes, the research will examine gene family expansion, where duplicated genes evolve to perform new functions.
The team believes this process may explain how molluscs developed many of their distinctive biological features.
“Molluscs give us a remarkable window into evolution's creativity,” said Dr Sleight.
“Snails, clams, squid and sea slugs show incredible diversity in form and function, and many of their most striking traits involve incorporating materials or components from their environment.”
The researchers will investigate whether expansion of pattern recognition receptor genes has enabled molluscs to recognise and safely integrate materials from their surroundings, leading to evolutionary innovations such as shell formation and defensive adaptations.
The project will combine expertise in evolutionary biology, genomics, developmental biology and biochemistry, with researchers studying a broad range of mollusc species to examine how the genes function.
Sleight said the work aims to uncover broader principles governing biological innovation.
“This project is about understanding the rules that govern life's ability to invent,” she said.
“By studying how evolution has repeatedly found new solutions in molluscs, we hope to uncover principles that apply far beyond this group alone.”
The project is led by Dr Jessica Goodheart of the American Museum of Natural History, with collaborators including Dr Manabu Bessho Uehara of Tohoku University in Japan.
The Human Frontier Science Programme is regarded as one of the world's most competitive funding schemes supporting international collaboration in fundamental biological research.
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