Laboratory for Evolutionary Morphology
Group Director
Shigeru KURATANI (Ph.D.)
Evolution can be viewed as series of changes introduced to developmental programs of organisms. The ultimate goal of our research project is to reconstruct the mechanical background of development behind evolutionary novelties in vertebrates, such as jaws and turtle crapace, by comparing developmental processes and patterns between different animal species to identify the changed portion of development, by constructing phenocopies to modify a part of developmental programs of model animals, and by integrating the experimental data with fossil data, phylogenetic trees based on molecular data, and variety of genomes in animals.
- To understand the developmental change that has brought about the gnathostome jaw, or origin of gnathostomes
- To understand the comprehensive developmental patterns and mechanisms of hagfish
- To understand the developmental changes brought into the body plan and its developmental program in the amniote ancestor to generate the turtle carapace
- To understand the mechanical background behind the mammalian ear ossicles, or the origin of mammals
- To understand the skeletal muscle evolution from the perspective of molecular developmental biology
- July 10, 2009
- The secret of the turtle shell
- Something fold, something new: Evolutionary morphology of the turtle shell
- Nagashima, H., Sugahara, F., Takechi, M., Ericsson, R., Ohya, K. Y., Narita, Y., and Kuratani, S.:
"Evolution of the turtle body plan by the folding and creation of new muscle connections."
Science 325 , 193-196(2009) - Kuraku, S., Takio, Y., Tamura, K., Aono, H., Meyer, A., and Kuratani, S.:
"Non-canonical role of Hox14 revealed by its expression pattern in lamprey and shark."
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 6679-6683(2008) - Kusakabe, R., and Kuratani, S.:
"Evolutionary perspectives from development of mesodermal components in the lamprey."
DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS 236: 2410-2420, (2007) - Nagashima, H., Kuraku, S., Uchida, K., Ohya, Y. K.,and Kuratani, S.:
"On the carapacial ridge in turtle embryos: its developmental origin, function, and the chelonian body plan."
Development 134 2219-2226 (2007) - Ota, G.,K., Kuraku, S. and Kuratani, S.:
"Hagfish embryology with reference to the evolution of the neural crest."
Nature 446, 672-675 2007 - Kuraku, S., Usuda, R., Kuratani, S.,:
"Comprehensive survey of carapacial ridge-specific genes in turtle implies co-option of some regulatory genes in carapace evolution"
EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT 7:1, 3-17, (2005) - Nagashima, H., Uchida, K., Yamamoto, K., Kuraku, S., Usuda, R., Kuratani, S.:
"Turtle-Chicken Chimera: An Experimental Approach to Understanding Evolutionary Innovation in the Turtle"
DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS 232: 149-161, (2005) - Takio, Y., Pasqualetti, M., Kuraku, S., Hirano, S., Rijli, F. M., Kuratani, S.:
"Lamprey Hox genes and the evolution of jaws"
Nature 20 May 2004 - Murakami, Y., Pasqualetti, M., Takio, Y., Hirano, S., Rijli, F. M., Kuratani, S.:
"Segmental development of reticulospinal and branchiomotor neurons in lamprey: insights into the evolution of the vertebrate hindbrain"
DEVELOPMENT 131, 983-995, (2004) - Shigetani, Y., Sugahara, F., Kawakami, Y., Murakami, Y., Hirano, S., Kuratani, S.:
"Heterotopic Shift of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Interactions in Vertebrate Jaw Evolution."
Science 296 , 1316-1319 (2002)