On the origins of heterodonty in elasmobranchs

• Applicant: Roland Zimm, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Evolutionary Cell and Developmental Biology (Zoology) ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology ; Developmental Biology ; Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: from 2019 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 432922638

How morphological diversity originates is one of the big questions of evolution. Teeth are an iconic case of morphological diversity. Teeth also comprise much of the vertebrate fossil record, extending back to hundreds of millions of years, and are key to our understanding of evolution. Owing to its importance for individual survival, tooth shape is indeed considered a hotspot for vertebrate evolution. Since morphologies are built during development, we need to understand how different developmental mechanisms interact in development, in order to understand how and under which conditions diversity of form can emerge. While a lot of research has been done on mammalian tooth development, relatively little is known about the developmental mechanisms that underlie the astonishing diversity of tooth shapes in elasmobranchs, the clade that includes sharks and rays. In this proposal, I am planning to use an innovative in silico approach, articulated with experiments on the catsharks conducted by collaborators, to elucidating the developmental and evolutionary origins of dental diversity, in particular the transitions from homodonty to heterodonty in elasmobranchs, both in extant and extinct taxa. In order to do so, I propose to focus on the role of the hitherto neglected biomechanical microenvironment of the developing teeth, which in my opinion may be pivotal to the plasticity of the dental developmental program within the jaws of elasmobranchs.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: France
• Host: Professor Dr. Nicolas Goudemand