Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Department of Biology, Loyola University in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Dev Dyn. 2019 Nov;248(11):1070-1090. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.72. Epub 2019 Jul 10.
One goal of evolutionary developmental biology is to understand the role of development in the origin of phenotypic novelty and convergent evolution. Geckos are an ideal system to study this topic, as they are species-rich and exhibit a suite of diverse morphologies-many of which have independently evolved multiple times within geckos.
We characterized and discretized the embryonic development of Lepidodactylus lugubris-an all-female, parthenogenetic gecko species. We also used soft-tissue μCT to characterize the development of the brain and central nervous system, which is difficult to visualize using traditional microscopy techniques. Additionally, we sequenced and assembled a de novo transcriptome for a late-stage embryo as a resource for generating future developmental tools. Herein, we describe the derived and conserved patterns of L. lugubris development in the context of squamate evolution and development.
This embryonic staging series, μCT data, and transcriptome together serve as critical enabling resources to study morphological evolution and development, the evolution and development of parthenogenesis, and other questions concerning vertebrate evolution and development in an emerging gecko model.
进化发育生物学的一个目标是了解发育在表型新颖性和趋同进化起源中的作用。壁虎是研究这一主题的理想系统，因为它们种类繁多，表现出一系列多样化的形态——其中许多形态在壁虎内部已经独立进化了多次。
我们描述并离散了 Lepidodactylus lugubris 的胚胎发育——一种全雌性、孤雌生殖的壁虎物种。我们还使用软组织 μCT 来描述大脑和中枢神经系统的发育，这在使用传统显微镜技术时很难可视化。此外，我们为晚期胚胎测序并组装了一个从头转录组，作为生成未来发育工具的资源。在此，我们描述了 L. lugubris 在有鳞目动物进化和发育背景下的衍生和保守发育模式。
这个胚胎分期系列、μCT 数据和转录组共同作为关键的使能资源，用于研究形态进化和发育、孤雌生殖的进化和发育，以及其他有关脊椎动物进化和发育的问题，这在新兴的壁虎模型中。
