Work
Biology...
Programming...
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Developmental origin of phenotypic variation in Drosophila melanogaster
This project's overall goal is to help close the gap between the increasing
ability to rapidly sequence the DNA, the genotype, of an organism, and the
relative lack of techniques to measure the even more complex physical form of
the organism, its phenotype. The measurement of complex, high-dimensional
phenotypes is an essential complement to the genomic level data. We call the
integration of such phenotypic data with genetics phenomics. This project
exploits an existing system for automated wing measurement, and will develop
techniques for the rapid measurement of other phenotypes, including whole
flies. From a biological point of view, the overall aim of this project is to
understand the genetic causes of phenotypic variation in the wings and other
aspects of external morphology of Drosophila melanogaster . The proposed work
will test the usefulness of a phenomic approach for the Drosophila wing,
through three specific questions:
- What genetic changes can cause variation in wing shape? We will develop a
“dictionary” of genetic effects on wing form by systematically manipulating
gene expression at genetic loci hypothesized to be involved in wing
development. These data will then be used to build predictive models of the
connections between developmental pathways and phenotypic variation.
- What are the genetic causes of natural variation in wing shape? We will attempt
to apply the phenomic approach to the genetic basis of natural variation in
wing shape in D. melanogaster using the dictionary of genetic effects.
- How do genetic changes that cause variation in wing shape affect other body
parts? The effects of a genetic variant on multiple traits is an important
feature of genetic systems with profound implications for evolution. We will
develop and generalize methods to measure variation in whole flies. A detailed
quantitative atlas of Drosophila morphology will first be generated, then used
to map 2-D images onto the atlas, allowing quantitative information on 3-D form
to extracted while minimizing human involvement.
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