Collaborative Research: Functional genomics of plumage ornaments in a warbler

合作研究：莺羽毛装饰的功能基因组学

• 批准号: 1749044
• 负责人: Peter Dunn
• 金额: $ 37.5万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-04-15 至 2022-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1749044&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Functional; genomics; plumage

One of the grand challenges in animal biology is to understand the influence of genes on the development of phenotypic and behavioral traits. The plumage of birds encompasses a spectacular array of ornamental plumages long appreciated for their beauty, yet we know little about how the color of plumage patches or their size is influenced by genes. It is generally thought that the plumage color of male birds is a signal of quality to females choosing mates. Several hypotheses have now been proposed linking the size and color of plumage ornaments to various physiological and genetic pathways related to health, including those involved in cellular metabolism, growth, oxidative stress and immunity. Any one pathway could provide a general explanation for how bird colors signal quality in males, but these genetic pathways may interact in complex ways that can only be understood using genome-wide analysis techniques. Here the researchers plan to examine these pathways using next generation gene sequencing of the genome of a brightly colored warbler. The types of pigments in this bird (black colored melanin and yellow colored carotenoids) are widespread across species and, thus, will provide a general model for many researchers studying the development of colorful ornaments. As part of the project the researchers will conduct workshops on genomics at local colleges, at an international behavior meeting and, in Belize, for a local zoo and local conservationists.This study will use genomic analyses to test several recent hypotheses for the genetic basis of ornament expression in a warbler, the common yellowthroat. This warbler is one of a few species of birds in which females are known to choose mates based on ornamental traits that are associated with indices of fitness. Interestingly, sexual selection targets different ornaments in different populations of the common yellowthroat. In Wisconsin, females prefer males with larger black masks, whereas in New York females prefer males with larger, more colorful yellow bibs. The investigators have already shown that mask size in Wisconsin and bib color in New York are honest signals of similar aspects of male quality in each population. Based on these results, the investigators plan to use a genomics approach to determine if: 1) elaborate ornaments are related to the expression of genes in growth, immunity and oxidative stress pathways, as predicted by recent hypotheses, and 2) if these traits exhibit molecular parallelism where the same genetic pathways are most closely associated with the ornament preferred by females in each location. To maximize the probability of finding differences and to expand the tests of parallelism, the study will also incorporate geographic comparisons with other subspecies and a closely-related species in Belize, which have larger differences in ornament size and color.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

动物生物学的巨大挑战之一是了解基因对表型和行为特征发展的影响。鸟类的羽毛包含了一系列壮观的装饰羽毛，以其美丽而欣赏它们，但我们对羽毛斑块的颜色或它们的大小如何受到基因的影响，但我们一无所知。人们普遍认为，雄性鸟的羽毛是选择伴侣的质量的信号。现在已经提出了几种假设，将羽毛装饰品的大小和颜色与与健康有关的各种生理和遗传途径联系起来，包括参与细胞代谢，生长，氧化应激和免疫力的途径。任何一个途径都可以为男性鸟类颜色如何信号质量提供一般的解释，但是这些遗传途径可能以复杂的方式相互作用，只能使用全基因组分析技术才能理解。在这里，研究人员计划使用鲜艳莺的基因组的下一代基因测序检查这些途径。这种鸟类的颜料类型（黑色黑色素和黄色类胡萝卜素）在物种之间普遍存在，因此将为许多研究彩色装饰品发展的研究人员提供一个通用模型。 作为该项目的一部分，研究人员将在当地大学，国际行为会议上以及在伯利兹进行当地动物园和当地保护主义者进行有关基因组学的研讨会。这项研究将使用基因组分析来测试一些最近的假设，以探测蠕虫中的遗传表达的遗传基础，共同的黄色throat。该莺是众所周知，雌性根据与健身指数相关的观赏性状选择伴侣的几种鸟类之一。有趣的是，性选择的目标是普通黄脑的不同种群中的不同装饰品。在威斯康星州，女性更喜欢雄性黑色面具较大的男性，而在纽约，女性更喜欢男性，男性更大，更彩色的黄色围嘴。研究人员已经表明，威斯康星州的面具和纽约的围嘴颜色是每个人群中男性质量相似方面的诚实信号。基于这些结果，研究人员计划使用一种基因组学方法来确定：1）详细的装饰与在生长，免疫和氧化应激途径中的基因表达有关，如最近的假设所预测的，以及2）如果这些性状表现出分子平行性，而在相同的遗传途径中，则在每个遗传途径中都与女性相同的位置相关。为了最大化发现差异并扩大并行性测试的可能性，该研究还将与伯利兹的其他亚种和与其他相关物种进行地理比较，这些比较在装饰尺寸和颜色方面具有更大的差异。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基础的智力效果和宽阔的范围来评估，并通过评估值得评估。