Seminars and Events

Past Events

Category Seminar
Date and Time 2006-12-11 16:30 - 17:30
Venue Auditorium C1F
Speaker Tsutomu Miyake
Affiliation Molecular Genetics Program, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason
Title Evolution and Development of the Fish Skeleton: Paleontology Meets Developmental Biology
Host Shinichi Aizawa
Summary Diversity of extinct and extant fishes and complexity of their skeletal tissues have hindered our efforts from unveiling evolutionary and developmental mechanisms that control the formation of skeletal tissues and structures. Paleontological studies have been the forefront to explore rich materials of skeletal remains and to explain the evolution of skeletal tissues in fishes. However, its explanatory power becomes limited when we start asking questions of how basic structures of the skeleton have been conserved with their fidelity and what genetic mechanisms control development of the skeleton in fishes. Advances in developmental biology, molecular genetics and genomics enable us to open a Pandora's Box. The skeleton is a difficult tissue to be studied because of its hardness. It is, however, a sole remain of extinct animals in most cases, the evidence that enables us to trace skeletal tissues of fishes, even dated back to the Devonian Period. Developmental studies in animal models including zebrafish, mice and chicks have recently provided us with underlying genetic and developmental mechanisms that regulate the formation of cartilages and bones. In addition, classical population genetics combined with genomic resources have driven our research to examine how populations of fish have been diversified with changes in skeletal structures, as exemplified by recent studies of sticklebacks. I will overview a recent progress in skeletal biology by focusing my presentation on (1) evolutionary history of the fish skeleton, (2) biology of the fish skeleton, (3) developmental origins of the fish skeleton, and (4) patterning of the fish skeleton.
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