COLOUR PATTERN
Financiado
Morphogenesis and Molecular Regulation of Colour Patterning in Birds
Animals display a tremendous diversity of patterns ‒from the colourful designs that adorn their body to repeated segmented appendages. Natural patterns result from the formation of discrete domains within developing tissues throug...
Animals display a tremendous diversity of patterns ‒from the colourful designs that adorn their body to repeated segmented appendages. Natural patterns result from the formation of discrete domains within developing tissues through the integration of positional cues by cells that consequently adopt specific fates and produce spatial heterogeneity. How can such developmental processes underlie the apparent complexity and diversity of natural patterns? We propose to address this long-standing question with an innovative experimental design: we will make use of natural variation as a powerful tool to facilitate the identification of patterning molecules and morphogenetic events. We will study colour pattern, a crucial adaptive trait that varies extensively in nature, from large colour domains to periodic designs. In amniotes, colour pattern is formed by spatial differences in the distribution of pigment cells and integumentary appendages. While the pigmentation system has been well characterized, the mechanisms governing the formation of compartments in the skin of wild animals have remained unclear, largely because laboratory models do not display ecologically-relevant colour patterns. We will use a combination of forward genetics, developmental biology, modelling, and imaging to study natural variation in the large colour domains of Estrildid finches and the periodic stripes of Galliform birds. For both phenotypes, we will characterize the organization of the embryonic skin and the mode of patterning (i.e., instructional patterning via external cues vs locally-occurring self-organization) underlying their formation, and identify the molecular factors and developmental processes contributing to their variation. Results from these studies will elucidate the biochemical events and tissue rearrangements orchestrating colour patterning in development and shed light on how these processes shape natural variation in this trait‒ and more generally, in natural patterns.
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Duración del proyecto: 60 meses
Fecha Inicio: 2015-04-17
Fecha Fin: 2020-04-30
Fecha Fin: 2020-04-30
Línea de financiación: concedida
El organismo H2020 notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2020-04-30
Línea de financiación objetivo
El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
ERC-StG-2014:
ERC Starting Grant
Cerrada
hace 10 años
Presupuesto
El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a
1M€
Líder del proyecto
COLLEGE DE FRANCE
No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
9.38M€ |
Participante