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| Kathleen K Smith, Professor
 - Contact Info:
Teaching (Fall 2012):
- BIOLOGY 89S.03, FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR (TOP)
Synopsis
- Bio Sci 063, TuTh 03:05 PM-04:20 PM
- BIOLOGY 330L.001, ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES
Synopsis
- Bio Sci 130, TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM
- BIOLOGY 330L.01L, ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES
Synopsis
- Bio Sci 073, W 01:40 PM-05:10 PM
- BIOLOGY 330L.02L, ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES
Synopsis
- Bio Sci 073, W 08:45 AM-12:15 PM
- BIOLOGY 330L.03L, ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES
Synopsis
- Bio Sci 073, Tu 01:40 PM-05:10 PM
- Education:
- BA, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1973
Ph.D., Harvard University,1980
- Specialties:
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Evolution
Organismal Biology and Behavior
Developmental Biology
- Research Interests: Functional morphology and evolution of vertebrates; craniofacial development, evolutionary morphology
I am interested in the functional and evolutionary morphology of vertebrates. My research has included the functional and phylogenetic significance of variations in form of craniofacial structures in squamate reptiles and mammals, the biomechanics of a class of structures called musculohydrostats, and the roles of adaptive evolution and constraint in morphological diversification. My current focus is on the relation between evolutionary and developmental processes, with particular focus on the evolutionary, functional and developmental consequences of heterochronies in the morphogenesis of cranial nerves, muscles, bones and sensory structures in eutherian and metatherian mammals.
I have shown that one of the most fundamental differences between the two taxa is a delay in marsupials of the development of the central nervous system (CNS) and cranial sense organs and an advancement of certain cranial skeletal-muscular tissues. Specifically, in marsupials the central nervous system and particularly the forebrain is delayed relative to the development of the bones around the oral apparatus, the chondrocranium and the differentiation of cranial muscles. Currently my work is focused on the timing and pattern of early neural crest migration in marsupials. In recent years I have demonstrated that neural crest differentiates and migrates earlier in marsupials, relative to neural tube or somite differentiation, than in another other vertebrate thus far reported. I am now focusing on the patterns of expression of major genes thought to impose regional identity on the neural crest and neural tube.
In addition I am looking at the phylogenetic context of these heterochronies, with a comparative study of early development in therian mammals, monotremes, and non-mammalian amniotes in order to identify the primitive developmental condition for mammals.
- Current Ph.D. Students
(Former Students)
- Martha R. Alonzo-Johnsen
- Anna Keyte
- Postdocs Mentored
- K. Bishop (July, 2006 - December, 2006)
- Carrie Carreno (2006 - present)
- Janet Vaglia (1999/12-2002/05)
- Recent Publications
(More Publications)
(search)
- Keyte, A; Smith K. K., Heterochrony in somitogenesis rate in a model marsupial, Monodelphis domestica,
Evolution and Development
(Accepted, 2011) (paper is in press (proofs submitted), but don't know publication details..)
- Price, S. A., Hopkins, S.B, Roth, V. L., Smith, K. K., Tempo of trophic evolution and its impact on mammalian diversification,
PNAS
(Submitted, 2011) (Manuscript has been returned for revisions with fairly positive reviews. Revised ms should be submitted by end of year. We are hopeful..)
- J.K. Moustakas, K.K. Smith, L.J Hlusko, Evolution and development of the mammalian dentition: Insights from the marsupial Monodelphis domestica,
Developmental Dynamics, vol. 240
(2011),
pp. 232-239 (Online version published in advance of print. Online publication date 24 November, 2010.) [abstract], [doi]
- A. L. Keyte, K.K. Smith, Developmental origins of precocial forelimbs in marsupial neonates,
Development, vol. 137
(2010),
pp. 4283-4294 [full], [doi]
- Carpenter, S. R, and 18 others, Accelerate Synthesis in Ecology and Environmental Sciences,
BioSciences, vol. 59
(2009),
pp. 699-701
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