OEB Seminar Series: Richard Prum
Date and Time
Location
Richard Prum
William Robertson Coe Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology (Ornithology) Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University
Frontiers in Feather Evolution: Hierarchy, Gene Expression, Cell Types, and Development
Abstract: The plumage of birds is composed of thousands of feathers with numerous hierarchically, modular, branching parts. The many vital functions of the plumage in the lives of birds depend upon the intricate coordination of variation in morphology over multiple scales from nanometers to meters. In recent decades, investigations of feather development have played a vital role in understanding the origin and diversification of feathers from the origin of feathers in theropod dinosaurs to the control of feather pigmentation patterning. Now, single nuclear transcriptomes from developing feathers of chickens and Zebra Finches provide new insights into the role of feather cell types in generating feather structural and functional diversity. These results will provide new tools for investigating the evolution of novel features of the feathers and plumages of non-model avian species.
Host: OEB Graduate Students