{"doi":"10.7302/1516","title":"Genetic Determinants of the Development and Evolution of Drosophila Pigmentation","abstract":"Understanding the relationships between DNA sequence and organismal phenotypes has been a central goal across a wide variety of biological subdisciplines throughout the history of genetics research. Studies of the developmental genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypes aim to increase our understanding of how genotypes encode phenotypes, while studies of the genetic basis of evolved differences inform our understanding of how changes in DNA sequence alter these developmental processes. While the fields of evolution and development have been mutually informative, our ability to interpret genetic sequences remains severely limited. In this dissertation, I investigate the genetic basis of phenotypic evolution and development using pigmentation in the genus Drosophila as a model system. In order to overcome technical limitations in identifying the genetic basis of evolved differences in Drosophila pigmentation, I adapted CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing techniques for precise DNA sequence replacement, developing methods designed for use in a wide variety of Drosophila species. Using CRISPR/Cas9, I demonstrate the role of the ebony gene in an evolved pigmentation difference between Drosophila novamexicana and Drosophila novamexicana, as well as in the development of cuticular hydrocarbons in these species. Finally, I describe the previously under-studied role of microRNAs in the development of Drosophila melanogaster pigmentation in a large-scale genetic screen, introducing a new class of regulators into the existing body of research into the genetic architecture underlying this development of this model trait.","journal":"Deep Blue (University of Michigan)","year":2021,"id":226153,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9493,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":484113,"name":"Abigail M. Lamb","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":42,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:54:34.185847Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}