Regulatory evolution of the turtle shell

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• 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
• Keywords: 進化発生 / 遺伝 / 形態進化

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.

Free Research Field

形態進化