My interests in the Patel lab are generally focused on the evolution of development. My research project in the Patel Lab attempts to understand the developmental and genetic processes that underlie morphological change. My interest is driven in large part by the possibility of arriving at a new and emerging evolutionary synthesis that includes developmental explanations of evolutionary change.
In the last 10 years, I have contributed to the many diverse questions of evolutionary developmental biology, such as evaluating the 18S rRNA gene as a marker for determining the existence of the Cambrian explosion, and studying the molecular evolutionary dynamics of the hedgehog gene in closely related fish species. I have, however, played a particularly active role in understanding the concept of homology in relation to developmental and genetic data. I along with a number of independent authors showed the importance of particular dissociations between homologous genes and homologous morphology. Furthermore, I have attempted to understand the role that developmental plasticity plays in facilitating the evolution of genomes and morphology. My doctoral thesis in Greg Wray's lab at Duke University was focused on understanding the developmental genetic and evolutionary basis of the wing polyphenism in ants. Ants are remarkable in that it is cues in the environment, such as food and temperature, which determine whether an ant egg will develop either into a winged queen or wingless worker. I found several genes in the conserved wing-patterning network that were normally expressed in the winged queens, but were suppressed in the wingless worker caste of ants. The most surprising result to emerge from this work, however, is the fact that different genes are suppressed in different species, even though the wing polyphenism in ants evolved only once.
Here in Nipam Patel's lab, I continue my efforts in understanding the developmental and genetic processes that underlie morphological evolution. Here, I have been specifically interested in understanding the developmental genetic mechanisms that bridge the gap between micro and macroevolutionary change. We have taken on this challenge by pushing further the work of Ronshaugen et al. 2002 (Hox protein mutation and macroevolution of the insect body plan. Nature 415: 914-917). Ronshaugen et al. 2002 showed quite elegantly that the presence of short domain of the Ubx protein of Drosophila is correlated with the repression of limbs on the insect abdomen from a crustacean ancestor with multiple-limbs.
This discovery, however, was made primarily by using Drosophila as a test tube for over-expressing the crustacean Ubx protein along the thoracic region of the Drosophila embryo, and finding that limbs are not repressed. In order to understand the importance of this discovery to macroevolutionary change, we must determine whether the Drosophila Ubx protein, when over expressed in a crustacean embryo, is capable of repressing limbs from the adult crustacean trunk. I am currently approaching this question by injecting Drosophila Ubx RNA into early embryos of the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, and observing the adult phenotypes.
My future research program, as an assistant professor at McGill University in Montreal, will focus on ants, where I will employ the developmental and molecular biology tools which I have learned during my postdoctoral work in the Patel lab, to study the influence of environment on development and evolution.
Publications
Oakley T.H., Zhenglong G., Abouheif E., Patel N.H., Li W-H. Comparative methods for the analysis of gene expression evolution: an example using functional genomic data.
Rheindt F.E., Ulmar G.T., Abouheif E. Rapidly evolving traits and the comparative method: how important is testing for phylogenetic independence? Evolutionary Ecology Research.
G.A. Wray, M.W. Hahn, E. Abouheif, J.P. Balhoff, M. Pizer, M.V. Rockman, and Romano L.A. 2003. The evolution of transcriptional regulation in Eukaryotes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 20: 1377-1419
Abouheif, E. and Wray, G.A. 2002. Evolution of the gene network underlying the wing polyphenism in ants. Science 297: 249-252
Abouheif, E. 2002. A framework for studying the evolution of gene networks underlying polyphenism: insights from winged and wingless ant castes. In Environment, Development , and Evolution. Hall Bk, Pearson R, and Muller G, eds. MIT Press
Abouheif, E. and Wray, G.A. 2002. Evolution of Development. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Nature Publishing Group. www.ELS.net: 1-6
Abouheif, E. 1999. Establishing homology criteria for regulatory gene networks: prospects and challenges. In Homology. Wiley, Chichester. Novartis Foundation Symposium 222: 207-225
Abouheif, E. 1999. A method for testing the assumption of phylogenetic independence in comparative data. Evolutionary Ecology Research 1: 895-909
Reeve, J. and E. Abouheif, 2003. Phylogenetic Independence. Version 2.0. Computer Program
Wray, G.A and Abouheif, E. 1998. When homology is not homology. Current Opinions in Genetics and Development 8: 675-680
Abouheif, E., Zardoya, R., and Meyer A. 1998. Limitations of metazoan 18S rRNA sequence data: implications for reconstructing a phylogeny for the animal kingdom, and inferring the existence of the Cambrian explosion. Journal of Molecular Evolution 47: 394-405
Abouheif, E. Akam, M., Dickinson, W.J., Holland, P.W.H., Meyer, A., Patel, N.H., Roth, V.L. and Wray, G.A. 1997. Homology and Developmental Genes. Trends In Genetics 13:432-433
Abouheif, E. 1998. Random trees and the comparative method: a cautionary tale. Evolution 52: 1197-1204
Abouheif, E. 1997. Developmental Genetics and Homology: a hierarchical approach. Trends In Ecology and Evolution 12: 405-408
Abouheif, E. and D.J. Fairbairn. 1997. A comparative analysis of allometry for sexual size dimorphism. American Naturalist 149: 540-562
Zardoya, R., E. Abouheif and A. Meyer. 1996a. Evolutionary analyses of hedgehog and Hoxd-10 genes in fish species closely related to the zebrafish. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 93: 13036-13041
Zardoya, R., E. Abouheif and A. Meyer. 1996b. Evolution and Orthology of hedgehog genes. Trends In Genetics 12: 489-536
Invited lectures and symposia:
Abouheif, E. 2003. Harvard University, Boston, USA
Abouheif, E. 2003. University of California, Riverside, USA
Abouheif, E. 2003. University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Abouheif, E. 2002. Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Abouheif, E. 2002. Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Meeting, Anaheim, USA.
Abouheif, E. 2001. Konrad Lorenz Institute, Altenberg, Austria.
Abouheif, E. 2000. North East Regional Developmental Biology Meeting, Woods Hole, USA.
Abouheif, E. 1999. The Developmental Basis of Evolutionary Change Meeting, Chicago, USA.
Abouheif, E. 1998. Norvartis Foundation Symposium on Homology, London, UK.
Conference presentations:
Abouheif, E. 1999. Society for the Study of Evolution. Madison, USA
Abouheif, E., Zardoya, R. and Meyer, A. 1997. Society for the Study of Evolution. Boulder, USA
Abouheif, E. 1997. Society for the Study of Evolution. Boulder, Boulder, USA
Abouheif, E., Reeve, J. and Fairbairn D.J. 1996. Society for the Study of Evolution. St. Louis, USA
Zardoya, R., Abouheif, E. and Meyer, A. 1996. Zebrafish Development and Genetics (Poster). CSH, USA
Abouheif, E. and Fairbairn D. J. 1995. Society for the Study of Evolution. Montreal, Canada
Education
Ph.D,.Department of Biology
Duke University, NC, USA.
Advisor: Dr. Gregory A. Wray
May 2002.
Doctoral coursework and research.
SUNY at Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Department of Ecology and Evolution
1995-1999.
M.Sc., Department of Biology
Concordia University, QC, Canada.
Advisor: Dr. Daphne J. Fairbairn
September 1995.
.
B.Sc., Department of Biology
Concordia University, QC, Canada.
Honors program. Minor as member of Science College
June 1993.
