Presenter Information

Alyson ReeseFollow

Major

Biology

Anticipated Graduation Year

2020

Access Type

Open Access

Abstract

Anoles have evolved adhesive toe pad morphologies that correlate with habitat differences. The specific genes and locations responsible for development at the points of variation have not been studied. My objective was to identify the genes responsible for anatomical variation in toe pad structure of Anolis sagrei, a species with relatively small toe pads, and Anolis carolinensis, a species with relatively large toe pads. HCR in situ hybridization was used to make genes fluoresce to visualize expression. Due to the COVID-19 response, data collection was unfinished; however, the FGFR2 gene gave indication of location being between the toe pad ridges.

Faculty Mentors & Instructors

Dr. Thomas Sanger, Professor, Department of Biology

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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Developmental Gene Expression in the Adhesive Toe Pads of Anolis Lizards

Anoles have evolved adhesive toe pad morphologies that correlate with habitat differences. The specific genes and locations responsible for development at the points of variation have not been studied. My objective was to identify the genes responsible for anatomical variation in toe pad structure of Anolis sagrei, a species with relatively small toe pads, and Anolis carolinensis, a species with relatively large toe pads. HCR in situ hybridization was used to make genes fluoresce to visualize expression. Due to the COVID-19 response, data collection was unfinished; however, the FGFR2 gene gave indication of location being between the toe pad ridges.