IRFP: Elucidating Incipient Coevolutionary Speciation Through Experimental and Transcriptomic Approaches

IRFP：通过实验和转录组学方法阐明初期共同进化物种形成

• 批准号: 1159509
• 负责人: David Hembry
• 金额: $ 16.2万
• 依托单位: Hembry David H
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1159509&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRFP; Elucidating; Incipient; Coevolutionary; Speciation

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering and by the Evolutionary Ecology Program in the Division of Environmental Biology. This award will support an eighteen-month research fellowship by Dr. David H. Hembry to work with Dr. Atsushi Kawakita at Kyoto University in Otsu, Japan, followed by a six-month research fellowship for Dr. Hembry to work with Dr. Michael B. Eisen at the University of California, Berkeley. The role of coevolution between species in the diversification of life on earth is one of the major questions in evolutionary biology. In particular, evidence that coevolution between species in mutualistic relationships (in which members of both species benefit) promotes diversification, as well as the mechanisms by which it might do so, remains equivocal. Specialized pollination mutualisms between insects and plants, particularly those between figs and fig wasps and yuccas and yucca moths, have long been used as models for this research because the role that pollinators play in transporting their hosts' gametes makes them especially likely candidates for coevolutionary diversification. However, evidence for coevolution driving diversification in these systems is equivocal from both empirical and theoretical angles, and few studies have explicitly investigated speciation in these systems.The goal of this proposal is to use a combination of experimental and transcriptomic approaches to examine a putative case of nascent coevolutionary speciation in a specialized, insect-plant mutualism that has recently diversified on oceanic islands in French Polynesia. Leafflower moths (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Epicephala) are the sole pollinators of their leafflower plant hosts (Phyllanthaceae: Phyllanthus s. l. [Glochidion]) but their larvae consume a subset of the host's seeds in return for the service of pollination. This project will ask whether mechanisms exist that promote reciprocal specialization in this mutualism, whether such specialization leads to population differentiation in the leafflower moth pollinators, and what kinds of differences in gene expression or genome sequence are evolving in tandem with this reciprocal specialization. These questions will be addressed through a combination of methods including bioassays, flower odor analysis (GC-MS), population genetics, and transcriptomics. In doing so, this study will explicitly investigate both nascent coevolutionary speciation between coevolving organisms, and the mechanisms by which such nascent speciation occurs.An understanding of the mechanisms that give rise to biodiversity, particularly in the tropics, is vital to conserving both species diversity and interaction diversity. This research has both long-term value and short term value in this regard, since Phyllanthus trees are one of the major endemic plant radiations in the South Pacific, with many rare taxa threatened by invasive species and habitat destruction. Additionally, the use of transcriptomics in the study of host-race formation in insects has clear agricultural applications. This program will facilitate the Principal Investigator's training both in next-generation sequencing methods in evolutionary biology, and his international research experience. Finally, this project will facilitate international collaboration between the Principal Investigator and research groups at Kyoto University, Japan (Dr. Atsushi Kawakita, Dr. Makoto Kato, Dr. Tomoko Okamoto, and Dr. Hirokazu Toju), Kyoto Prefectural University, Japan (Dr. Issei Ohshima), the University of California, Berkeley (Dr. Michael Eisen), and the Délégation à la Recherche, French Polynesia (Dr. Jean-Yves Meyer).

国际研究奖学金计划使美国的科学家和工程师能够在国外进行九至二十四个月的研究。该计划的奖项为联合研究提供了机会，以及在国外使用独特或补充设施，专业知识和实验条件。该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室以及环境生物学系的进化生态计划共同资助。奖项将支持David H. Hembry博士的18个月研究奖学金，与日本大奥京都大学的Atsushi Kawakita博士合作，然后为Hembry博士与加州大学伯克利分校的Michael B. Eisen博士合作六个月的研究奖学金。物种之间在地球生命多样化中进行共同进化的作用是进化生物学的主要问题之一。特别是，证据表明，互相关系中物种之间的进化（这两个物种受益）促进了多样化，以及它可能这样做的机制仍然等效。昆虫和植物之间的专门授粉互助，尤其是无花果和无花果黄蜂，尤卡斯和丝兰飞蛾之间的专门授粉互助，长期以来一直用作这项研究的模型，因为传粉媒介在运输其宿主的游戏中所起的作用使他们尤其是候选者进行协同进化多样化。 However, evidence for coevolution driving diversification in these systems is equivalent from both empirical and theoretical angles, and few studies have explicitly investigated specifications in these systems.The goal of this proposal is to use a combination of experimental and transcriptomic approaches to examine a putative case of nascent coevolutionary specialization in a specialized, insect-plant mutualism that has recently diversified on oceanic islands Leaffolder moths （鳞翅目：gracillariidae：epicephala）是其生育植物宿主的独一授粉媒介（phyllanthaceae：phyllanthuss。l。[Glochidion]），但他们的幼虫消耗了宿主种子的子集以返回授粉的服务。该项目将询问是否存在促进这种互助中互惠专业化的机制，这种专业化是否导致了生气飞蛾传粉媒介的种群分化，以及基因表达或基因组序列在与这种互惠专业化的一致性中发生了什么样的差异。这些问题将通过包括生物测定，花朵气味分析（GC-MS），种群遗传学和转录组学等方法的结合来解决。在此过程中，这项研究将明确调查同居生物之间的新生型共进行进化规格，以及这种新生的规范发生的机制。对产生生物多样性的机制的理解，尤其是在热带中，对于巩固了物种多样性和相互作用的多样性和相互作用的多样性至关重要。在这方面，这项研究既具有长期价值又具有短期价值，因为植物树是南太平洋地区主要的地方性植物辐射之一，其中许多稀有分类群受到入侵物种和栖息地破坏的威胁。此外，在昆虫中的宿主竞赛形成研究中使用转录组学具有明显的农业应用。该计划将促进主要研究者在进化生物学的下一代测序方法和他的国际研究经验方面的培训。最后，该项目将促进日本京都大学的首席研究员与研究小组之间的国际合作（Atsushi Kawakita博士，Makoto Kato博士，Makoto Kato博士，Tomoko Okamoto博士，Tomoko Okamoto博士和Hirokazu Toju博士，Hirokazu Toju博士，京都省大学，日本，日本的京都大学（Issei ohshima） La Recherche，法属波利尼西亚（Jean-Yves Meyer博士）。