Regulatory evolution of the turtle shell

• Project/Area Number: 26840121
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Evolutionary biology
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Pascual Anaya Juan 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 倉谷形態進化研究室, 研究員 (30594098)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥3,120,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥720,000)
• Keywords: 進化発生 / 遺伝 / 形態進化 / 比較ゲノム / 発生生物 / turtle shell / evolution / development / Evo-Devo

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Morphological innovations are those evolutionary novelties that appear without a clear ancestral structure, totally de novo. The turtle shell is a classical morphological innovation that has mesmerized researchers over a century, and despite deep studies addressing its origin, how turtles acquire the shell remains a mistery. During my project, I have utilized state-of-the-art technologies in order to tackle this problem. By using techniques of next generation sequencing, like ChIP-seq, I have been able to establish hundreds of candidate regultatory elements that seem to be turtle-specific and linked to the carapacial ridge, the embryonic structure that controls de development of the turtle carapace.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] The evolutionary origin of the turtle shell grounded on the axial arrest of the embryonic rib cage. (2015)
  • Author(s): Hirasawa, T., Pascual-Anaya, J., Kamezaki, N., Taniguchi, N., Mine, K., and Kuratani, S.
  • Journal Title: J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol. Volume: 324 Issue: 3 Pages: 194-207
  • DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.22579
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Comparative analysis of pleurodiran and cryptodiran turtle embryos depicts the molecular ground pattern of the turtle carapacial ridge (2015)
  • Author(s): Juan Pascual-Anaya, Tatsuya Hirasawa, Iori Sato, Shigehiro Kuraku, Shigeru Kuratani
  • Journal Title: International Journal of Developmental Biology Volume: -
  • Peer Reviewed / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] Transcriptomics and epigenomics analyses of the development of the turtle shell (2015)
  • Author(s): Juan Pascual-Anaya
  • Organizer: CABD Seminar
  • Place of Presentation: Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology, Seville, Spain
  • Year and Date: 2015-04-28
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Transcriptomics and epigenomics analyses of the development of the turtle shell (2015)
  • Author(s): Juan Pascual-Anaya
  • Organizer: Invited seminar
  • Place of Presentation: Andalusian Center for Deveolpmental Biology, Sevilla, Spain
  • Year and Date: 2015-04-28
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Transcriptomics analysis of the development of the turtle shell (2015)
  • Author(s): Juan Pascual-Anaya
  • Organizer: Reptile Evo-Devo
  • Place of Presentation: University of Oxford, UK
  • Year and Date: 2015-04-24
  • Invited