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Kathleen K Smith, Professor

Research Interests:
Functional morphology and evolution of vertebrates; craniofacial development, evolutionary morphology

Research Summary:
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.

Recent Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. K.K. Smith. "Craniofacial development in marsupial mammals: Developmental origins of evolutionary change." Developmental Dynamics 235.5 (2006): 1181-1193.
2. A.F.H. van Nievelt and K.K. Smith. "To replace or not to replace: the significance of reduced functional tooth replacement in marsupial and placental mammals." Paleobiology 31.2 (Winter, 2005): 324-346.
3. A. van Nievelt and K.K. Smith. "Tooth eruption in Monodelphis domestica and its significance for phylogeny and natural history." Journal of Mammalogy 86 (2005): 333-341.
4. Vaglia, J. and Smith K. K. "Early development of cranial neural crest in the marsupial, Monodelphis domestica." Development and Evolution 5 (Spring, 2003): 121-135.
5. K.K. Smith. "Time's arrow: Heterochrony and the evolution of development." International Journal of Developmental Biology 47.7-8 (2003): 613-621.

Education:

• PhD, Harvard University, 1980
• BA, University California, Santa Cruz, 1973

Contact Info: 

124 Bio Sci Bldg | +1 919 684 3402, +1 919 684 8325 | kksmith@duke.edu | http://www.baa.duke.edu/~kksmith