Understanding the evolution of the alternation of generations in the land plant life cycle. This project will investigate the genetic basis and evolution of the land plant life cycle, in which both haploid and diploid phases consist of complex multicellular bodies. The project's findings, which will be made using two model laboratory plants, will be applicable to all plants and will help understand important processes such as pollen and seed production.
Revisiting the ontogeny of vocal learning in birds: from neuron to fitness. This project aims to test the hypothesis that acoustic exposure prior to hatching directly affects gene expression, neural development, behaviour and consequently fitness, in wild populations of songbirds. Recent research suggests that animals are receptive to acoustic parental signals long before birth and may use such previously unrecognised signals to make adaptive developmental decisions. This project will quantify t ....Revisiting the ontogeny of vocal learning in birds: from neuron to fitness. This project aims to test the hypothesis that acoustic exposure prior to hatching directly affects gene expression, neural development, behaviour and consequently fitness, in wild populations of songbirds. Recent research suggests that animals are receptive to acoustic parental signals long before birth and may use such previously unrecognised signals to make adaptive developmental decisions. This project will quantify the effect on neural development and vocal learning in embryonic birds, employing a model songbird species. The outcomes of this study will transform our understanding of the adaptive potential of prenatal vocal learning, which will have significant benefits for human speech and language development.Read moreRead less
Genetic regulation of wing reduction in the emu. This project aims to examine the genetic mechanisms that generate limb diversity, using wing reduction in the emu as a model. A hot topic in biology at present is evolutionary developmental biology, or how genes control morphological diversity. This project will explore the functions of two novel genes implicated in wing reduction. The project expects to expand knowledge in the area of developmental biology, and limb morphogenesis specifically. It ....Genetic regulation of wing reduction in the emu. This project aims to examine the genetic mechanisms that generate limb diversity, using wing reduction in the emu as a model. A hot topic in biology at present is evolutionary developmental biology, or how genes control morphological diversity. This project will explore the functions of two novel genes implicated in wing reduction. The project expects to expand knowledge in the area of developmental biology, and limb morphogenesis specifically. It will bear upon the phylogeny of flightlessness among birds. It also has potential implications for studying human limb deformities. Overall, the project will enhance our understanding of how genes control the great diversity that we see in nature.Read moreRead less
Morphological development of the kidney – a paradigm for organogenesis. This project aims to shed new light on how the kidney develops, how normal adult function is established and how congenital kidney malformations occur. It aims to investigate a mathematical pattern that has been discovered in the program of branching morphogenesis which dictates kidney development. By combining cutting-edge genetic approaches, morphological analysis and mathematical modelling, this project plans to explore h ....Morphological development of the kidney – a paradigm for organogenesis. This project aims to shed new light on how the kidney develops, how normal adult function is established and how congenital kidney malformations occur. It aims to investigate a mathematical pattern that has been discovered in the program of branching morphogenesis which dictates kidney development. By combining cutting-edge genetic approaches, morphological analysis and mathematical modelling, this project plans to explore how this pattern is established, how it dictates kidney development and whether it constitutes an ancient mechanism central to organ formation. Project outcomes may improve understanding of fundamental developmental processes and developmental disease and variation. Project findings may also be important for understanding the development of other organ systems.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100190
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$388,600.00
Summary
Tracing the Evolutionary History of Plant Developmental Mechanisms. Knowledge of the evolutionary history of genes involved in developmental processes provides a foundation for understanding how genetic networks were established and how their manipulation may influence plant growth and form. Genetic programs that direct growth and development in response to light will be examined functionally in Marchantia, a liverwort. Liverworts hold a key position in plant evolution as the sister group to all ....Tracing the Evolutionary History of Plant Developmental Mechanisms. Knowledge of the evolutionary history of genes involved in developmental processes provides a foundation for understanding how genetic networks were established and how their manipulation may influence plant growth and form. Genetic programs that direct growth and development in response to light will be examined functionally in Marchantia, a liverwort. Liverworts hold a key position in plant evolution as the sister group to all other land plants and possess many attributes reminiscent of the ancestral land plant. This project is expected to reveal some of the ancestral mechanisms for how light regulates plant form via the hormone auxin and could, in the future, aid the precise design of plants for diverse agricultural applications.Read moreRead less
Evolution of the dermomyotome in vertebrates. The project seeks to understand how different muscle populations within the embryo form and have evolved within the vertebrate phylogeny. All amniote muscles, except that of the head, derive from a transient embryonic structure termed the dermomyotome. The formation of muscle from the dermomyotome of amniotes uses a highly conserved mechanism that is distinct from that deployed by bony fish and amphibians. How the dermomyotome evolved to generate th ....Evolution of the dermomyotome in vertebrates. The project seeks to understand how different muscle populations within the embryo form and have evolved within the vertebrate phylogeny. All amniote muscles, except that of the head, derive from a transient embryonic structure termed the dermomyotome. The formation of muscle from the dermomyotome of amniotes uses a highly conserved mechanism that is distinct from that deployed by bony fish and amphibians. How the dermomyotome evolved to generate the distinct types of locomotor systems we see deployed throughout the vertebrate phylogeny remains unresolved. This project aims to contribute to an understanding of how different locomotor strategies deployed at important evolutionary transitions were generated.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100306
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Does spurious maternal-fetal signalling support the evolution of a placenta. This project aims to test a model that explains how the placenta has evolved as a new organ more than 100 times in fishes, reptiles, and mammals including our own ancestors. The project will assess whether regulatory components of the placenta evolve as a result of spurious maternal-fetal signalling following egg retention and eggshell loss in viviparous reptiles. Expected outcomes of this project include a new understa ....Does spurious maternal-fetal signalling support the evolution of a placenta. This project aims to test a model that explains how the placenta has evolved as a new organ more than 100 times in fishes, reptiles, and mammals including our own ancestors. The project will assess whether regulatory components of the placenta evolve as a result of spurious maternal-fetal signalling following egg retention and eggshell loss in viviparous reptiles. Expected outcomes of this project include a new understanding of how complex organs originate and evolve in animals. This will benefit society through a broader depth of understanding of our own evolutionary history and provides a framework for future studies to investigate the origin and evolution of organs more broadly in animals.Read moreRead less
Old genes learning new tricks: characterising regulatory changes driving increased heart complexity during vertebrate evolution. The heart has dramatically increased in morphological complexity during vertebrate evolution but the molecular basis driving these major changes remains unknown. Using comparative genomics approaches, this project will explore changes in the regulation of genes involved in heart formation that lead to changes in cardiac structure. It will elucidate for the first time t ....Old genes learning new tricks: characterising regulatory changes driving increased heart complexity during vertebrate evolution. The heart has dramatically increased in morphological complexity during vertebrate evolution but the molecular basis driving these major changes remains unknown. Using comparative genomics approaches, this project will explore changes in the regulation of genes involved in heart formation that lead to changes in cardiac structure. It will elucidate for the first time the cardiac regulatory repertoire in zebrafish and will compare it with that of fly and mouse using cutting-edge bioinformatics pipelines. This work will unravel cardiac-specific regulatory modifications that give rise to evolutionary changes. On a broader scale, it will shed new light on the role of regulatory innovations over gene innovations in the emergence of new traits.Read moreRead less
Molecular mechanisms that generate muscle cell type diversity. The general aim of this project is to exploit the advantages of the zebrafish system and our access to the embryology of Australian shark species to generate an understanding of the basis for muscle fibre diversity and evolution. While there is some understanding of the fundamental genetic basis of how to make an individual muscle cell from a nascent myoblast there is far less knowledge on how individual muscle cells generate mature ....Molecular mechanisms that generate muscle cell type diversity. The general aim of this project is to exploit the advantages of the zebrafish system and our access to the embryology of Australian shark species to generate an understanding of the basis for muscle fibre diversity and evolution. While there is some understanding of the fundamental genetic basis of how to make an individual muscle cell from a nascent myoblast there is far less knowledge on how individual muscle cells generate mature muscle types and patterns. The intended outcome of this research is to generate understanding of the complex molecular basis of muscle patterning in the simple paradigm of the zebrafish myotome that could be applied across the vertebrate phylogeny.Read moreRead less
Reprogramming maternal and paternal genomes during development: new perspectives from marsupials. This project will use marsupials to examine programming of the germ cell lineage (cells that become eggs and sperm) and the evolution of these mechanisms that control their development. Using the unique features of our Australian native animals, this research will contribute to the understanding of the transmission of life.