EAGER: RUI: The genomic architecture of speciation in an avian hybrid zone

EAGER：RUI：鸟类杂交区物种形成的基因组结构

• 批准号: 1244739
• 负责人: John McCormack
• 金额: $ 5.38万
• 依托单位: Occidental College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1244739&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; RUI; genomic; architecture; speciation

This study seeks to address how the genomes of different birds respond to hybridization and what keeps them distinct. The two forms of the Western Scrub-Jay, one found in coastal California and the other in the interior United States, have different plumage colors and different bill shapes that are adapted to local resources. This study will look at an area of contact between them to address two important questions that are currently intensely debated in the field of evolutionary theory: (1) whether genetic divergence on the sex chromosomes plays an outsized role in keeping species separate; and (2) whether genomic divergence tends to accumulate in just a few places in the genome, or whether divergence is more evenly spread out throughout the genome. To accomplish this, the researchers will use novel methods for sequencing large subsets of the genomes of many individuals found inside and outside a contact zone near Lake Tahoe. Understanding how species remain distinct despite the fact that they sometimes interbreed and exchange genes is an important basic question in evolutionary biology bearing on how and why biodiversity is generated. It is also important from the standpoint of protecting and managing our country's existing wealth of biodiversity, because there are many natural and human-mediated cases of hybridization between economically important species. This research will lead to a better understanding of how the genome responds to hybridization, and what keeps species distinct.

这项研究旨在解决不同鸟类的基因组如何响应杂交以及使它们与众不同的原因。西方灌木丛的两种形式，一种在加利福尼亚沿海地区，另一种在美国内部，具有不同的羽毛色和不同的账单形状，这些账单形状适合当地资源。这项研究将探讨他们之间的接触领域，以解决进化论领域中目前在争论中进行激烈争议的两个重要问题：（1）对性染色体的遗传差异是否在使物种分开方面起着极大的作用； （2）基因组差异是否倾向于在基因组中的几个地方积累，或者差异是否在整个基因组中更均匀地分布。为此，研究人员将使用新颖的方法来测序许多在太浩湖附近的接触区域内和外部发现的许多个体的基因组。尽管有时会杂交并交换基因是进化生物学的重要基本问题，但了解物种如何以及为何生成生物多样性是一个重要的基本问题。从保护和管理我们国家现有的生物多样性的角度来看，这也很重要，因为经济上重要的物种之间存在许多自然和人介导的杂交案例。这项研究将使人们更好地了解基因组对杂交的反应以及使物种不同的原因。