动物眼睛的起源与进化研究进展

动物眼睛的起源与进化过程是人类在探索自然奥秘过程中遇到的一个非常有趣且引人注目的研究热点,目前这方面的研究已取得了丰硕的成果。从眼睛出现的过程、眼睛进化所需的时间、眼睛的单起源论、眼睛的类型与进化、光感受器与眼睛进化的关系、光感受器和视蛋白的类型与进化这6个方面简要概述了动物眼睛起源与进化的主要研究进展。     

我国文昌鱼研究50年

文昌鱼是研究脊椎动物起源与进化十分珍贵的模式动物。近50年来,我国在文昌鱼生物学研究方面取得很大进展。本文系统介绍了我国学者在文昌鱼发育、免疫和进化方面所取得的研究成果。     

后生动物起源时间的分子钟研究

后生动物是起源于“寒武纪大爆发”还是经历了一个相对较长的前寒武时期一直是动物进化史上的不同解之谜。综述近年来出现的很多利分子数据推测后生动物起源时间的分子钟研究,并就研究中存在的无脊椎动物与脊劝物之的进化速率的校正、进化速率恒定基因的判断等问题进行讨论。     

植物基因起源进化研究取得新进展

动物基因中有很多逆转座基因,但长期以来,由于在拟南芥菜中发现很少的逆转座基因,因而形成了一种认为逆转座在植物基因和基因组进化中并不重要的观念。     

从内鼻孔的发育和进化看四足类的起源

陆生脊椎动物头部具有两对鼻孔。一对外鼻孔,位于头部前背面,另一对是内鼻孔。内鼻孔作为脊椎动物由水上陆进化的关键结构之一,其发生和进化在近一个半世纪的时间内一直是科学家们争论的热点。内鼻孔是陆生脊椎动物的鼻囊与口腔之间的开口,是呼吸空气的必经之道,其开口位置在口腔上腭部,在前颌骨、上颌骨、锄骨和腭骨之间。Romer探讨了为     

细胞的起源和进化（一）

现代地球上绝大部分的生命都是以单个细胞或多个细胞的形式存在的。生命起源后细胞基本结构的形成和细胞结构在进化过程中的发展都是一些重大的生物进化事件。因此对细胞本身的起源和进化的研究是探索生物进化的重要组成部分。１最原始的细胞细胞是如何产生的呢？要解决这...     

基因倍增和脊椎动物起源

有机体基因复制导致基因复杂性增加及其和脊椎动物起源的关系已经成为进化生物学研究的热点。20世纪70年代由Ohno提出后经Holland等修正的原始脊索动物经两轮基因组复制产生脊椎动物的假设目前已被广泛接受。脊椎动物起源和进化过程中发生过两轮基因组复制的主要证据有三点：（1）据估计脊椎动物基因组内编码基因数目大约相当于果蝇、海鞘等无脊椎动物的4倍;原口动物如果蝇和后口动物如头索动物文昌鱼的基因组大都只有单拷贝的基因,而脊椎动物的基因组则通常有4个同属于一个家族的基因。（2）无脊椎动物如节肢动物、海胆和头索动物文昌鱼都只有一个Hox基因簇,而脊椎动物除鱼类外,有7个具有Hox基因簇,其余都具有4个Hox基因簇。（3）基因作图证明,不但在鱼类和哺乳动物染色体广大片段上基因顺序相似,而且有证据显示哺乳动物基因组不同染色体之间存在相似性。据认为第一次基因倍增发生在脊椎动物与头索动物分开之后,第二次基因倍增发生在有颌类脊椎动物和无颌类脊椎动物分开以后。但是,基因是逐个发生倍增,还是通过基因组内某些DNA片段抑或整个基因组的加倍而实现的,目前还颇有争议。     

鲸类的起源和进化—兼论淡水豚类的进化

鲸类,无疑是最早,且最为成功地适应水体生活的哺乳动物。它们种类多,数量大,分布广。纺锤形体型、鳍状肢,由纤维软骨支持的水平尾裂,以及颅骨缩短、鼻孔后移、耳骨被气囊或脂肪体与颈椎隔开、缩短或合并的颈椎等,构成了它们适应于水环境而不同于别的哺乳动物的特点。然而,一些解剖学、胚胎学和生化分析的结果,如胎儿     

Mitochondrial genomes of two demosponges provide insights into an early stage of animal evolution

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of multicellular animals (Metazoa) is typically a small ( approximately 16 kbp), circular-mapping molecule that encodes 37 tightly packed genes. The structures of mtDNA-encoded transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) are usually highly unorthodox, and proteins are translated with multiple deviations from the standard genetic code. In contrast, mtDNA of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis, the closest unicellular relative of animals, is four times larger, contains 1.5 times as many genes, and lacks mentioned peculiarities of animal mtDNA. To investigate the evolutionary transition that led to the specific organization of metazoan mtDNA, we determined complete mitochondrial sequences from the demosponges Geodia neptuni and Tethya actinia, two representatives of the most basal animal phylum, the Porifera. We found that poriferan mtDNAs resemble those of other animals in their compact organization, lack of introns, and a well-conserved animal-like gene order. Yet, they contain several extra genes, encode bacterial-like rRNAs and tRNAs, and use a minimally derived genetic code. Our findings suggest that the evolution of the typical metazoan mtDNA has been a multistep process in which the compact genome organization and the reduced gene content were established prior to the reduction of tRNA and rRNA structures and the introduction of multiple changes of the translation code.     

New insights into the immunology and evolution of HIV

Fewer than one million HIV infected individuals are currently receiving anti-retroviral therapy.The limitations of such treatment have underscored the need to develop more effective strategies to control the spread and pathogenesis of HIV.Typically,naturally occurring protective immune responses provide the paradigm for such development.It is now clear however that HIV can utilise the millieu of and activated immune system to its own replicative advantage.Mobilisation of the immune response,intended to thwart the virus,may instead fuel its dissemination. ‘immune escape’and spread.The immense genetic variation of HIV contributes to lack of immune control and the development of progressive disease in the majority of infected,untreated individuals.Further delineation of the intimate interactions between the HIV and the immune system will be critical and recent advances in this direction are discussed.     

Functional evolution in the ancestral lineage of vertebrates or when genomic complexity was wagging its morphological tail

Early vertebrate evolution is characterized by a significant increase of organismal complexity over a relatively short time span. We present quantitative evidence for a high rate of increase in morphological complexity during early vertebrate evolution. Possible molecular evolutionary mechanisms that underlie this increase in complexity fall into a small number of categories, one of which is gene duplication and subsequent structural or regulatory neofunctionalization. We discuss analyses of two gene families whose regulatory and structural evolution shed light on the connection between gene duplication and increases in organismal complexity.     

四川卧龙自然保护区天牛区系及其起源与演化的研究

卧龙自然保护区位于东经102°52′—103°24′,北纬30°45′—31°25′。据1980—1983年的调查材料,该自然保护区的天牛共有45属、73种,其中,东洋种47种,占64.4％;古北种10种,占13.7％;广布种5种,占6.8％;特有种11种,占15.1％。从区系组成上看,这个地区似位于东洋区与古北区的过渡带上,并且有靠近东洋区的趋势。高道蓉等(1981)在对峨嵋山(东经103°20′,北纬29°31′)白蚁区系的研究中也认为,峨嵋山位于这条过渡带上。然而,这两个地区的地带性植被、气侯和昆虫组成都与古北区迥然不同,而且,这两个地区的古北种都分布在高海投带上。因此,卧龙自然保护区应属东洋区;昆虫的地理区划主要应以地带性植被、气侯和昆虫组成为依据。 卧龙天牛的垂直分布可分为四个带:(1)亚热带常绿阔叶林带(海拔1120—1600米);(2)常绿、落叶阔叶混交林带(海拔1600—2000米);(3)针、阔叶混交林带(海拔2000—2600米);(4)亚高山针叶林带(海拔2600—3600米)。第1带(基带)东洋种占88.9％,没有古北种;第2带东洋种占50％,古北种占14.3％;第3带东洋种占44.4％,古北种占33.3％;第4带全部为古北种。与中国东部的植被相似,天牛分布每向上移一个垂直带,其成员在水平上也向北移一个带。研究结果还表明,在水平方向分布广的种类在垂直方向也表现     

The urbilaterian brain: developmental insights into the evolutionary origin of the brain in insects and vertebrates

Classical phylogenetic, neuroanatomical and neuroembryological studies propose an independent evolutionary origin of the brains of insects and vertebrates. Contrasting with this, data from three sets of molecular and genetic analyses indicate that the developmental program of brains of insects and vertebrates might be highly conserved and suggest a monophyletic origin of the brain of protostomes and deuterostomes. First, recent results of molecular phylogeny imply that none of the currently living animals correspond to evolutionary intermediates between protostomes and deuterostomes, thus making it impossible to infer the morphological organization of an ancestral bilaterian brain from living specimens. Second, recent molecular genetic evidence provides support for the body axis inversion hypothesis, which implies that a dorsoventral inversion of the body axis occurred in protostomes versus deuterostomes, leading to the inverted location of neurogenic regions in these animal groups. Third, recent developmental genetic analyses are uncovering the existence of structurally and functionally homologous genes that have comparable and interchangeable functions in early brain development in insect and vertebrate model systems. Thus, development of the anteriormost part of the embryonic brain in both insects and vertebrates depends upon the otd/Otx and ems/Emx genes; development of the posterior part of the embryonic brain in both insects and vertebrates involves homologous control genes of the Hox cluster. These findings, which demonstrate the conserved expression and function of key patterning genes involved in embryonic brain development in insects and vertebrates support the hypothesis that the brains of protostomes and deuterostomes are of monophyletic, urbilaterian origin.