Lab
Axel Meyer Lab
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Statement of Research Interest
We are interested in the (1) evolutionary relationships among fishes, (2) the evolution of developmental mechanisms that led to different adult morphologies, and (3) the evolutionary patterns and processes that control the evolution of developmental genes such as hedgehog and Hox genes.
In particular we are interested in studying, from a comparative, evolutionary perspective, the developmental mechanisms in various species of zebrafish and cichlid fishes. Cichlid fishes have an evolutionary key-innovation that is believed to be at least partly responsible for their evolutionary succes, a second set of jaws that is evolutionarily derived from a modified set of gill arches. Using methods and lessons from the zebrafish model we hope to gain understanding of the developmental modifications that led from a general zebrafish morphology to a more specialized cichlid phenotype.
The group of Gerrit Begemann is further interested in the mechanisms by which signalling through retinoic acid participates in patterning of the nervous system and the pectoral fins of the developing zebrafish embryo. Moreover, we study the function and developmental regulation of a subset of T-box (tbx) genes, which are members of a large class of transcription factors, during the development of mesodermal structures in the head and trunk.
In particular we are interested in studying, from a comparative, evolutionary perspective, the developmental mechanisms in various species of zebrafish and cichlid fishes. Cichlid fishes have an evolutionary key-innovation that is believed to be at least partly responsible for their evolutionary succes, a second set of jaws that is evolutionarily derived from a modified set of gill arches. Using methods and lessons from the zebrafish model we hope to gain understanding of the developmental modifications that led from a general zebrafish morphology to a more specialized cichlid phenotype.
The group of Gerrit Begemann is further interested in the mechanisms by which signalling through retinoic acid participates in patterning of the nervous system and the pectoral fins of the developing zebrafish embryo. Moreover, we study the function and developmental regulation of a subset of T-box (tbx) genes, which are members of a large class of transcription factors, during the development of mesodermal structures in the head and trunk.
Lab Members