URoL: Epigenetics 2: Collaborative Research: Bumble bee cold tolerance across elevations - From epigenotype to phenotype across space, time, and levels of biological organization

URoL：表观遗传学 2：合作研究：大黄蜂跨海拔的耐寒性 - 从表观基因型到跨空间、时间和生物组织水平的表型

• 批准号: 1921562
• 负责人: Michael Dillon
• 金额: $ 117.1万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-15 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1921562&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: URoL; Epigenetics; Collaborative; Research; Bumble

Understanding how organisms cope with environmental variability is of fundamental importance in ecology and evolutionary biology. Adaptation to environmental variation has commonly been inferred by examining how the appearance of organisms (phenotypes) and their DNA sequences (genotypes) vary across a broad range of climatic conditions. However, there has been increasing recognition of additional layers of complexity along the genome-to-phenotype spectrum that influence responses to the environment by altering expression of genetic variation. Epigenetic, or non-DNA sequence based, DNA modifications under different environmental conditions are increasingly considered to be a potent mechanism that may drive how organisms respond to different environments. Likewise, the different molecules associated with metabolic activity (metabolome) can vary among individuals or populations in different environments or can change under stressful conditions to alter organism function. Species that occur across altitudes experience rapid shifts in conditions, especially temperature, over short spatial scales, which provides advantages for teasing apart how different mechanisms influence tolerance of environmental variation. This project will focus on thermal tolerance across elevations in wild and laboratory reared bumble bees, an important group of pollinators that are threatened by environmental pressures. The project will provide valuable tools to understand how bee populations overcome environmental stress that will help predict the stability of bee populations. Post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa and University of Wyoming will be broadly trained in molecular biology, physiology and computational modeling approaches. A strategy game app to demonstrate how molecular changes can affect populations and ecosystems under different thermal conditions will be developed for K-12 students. Results of the study will be disseminated through an exhibit at a native bee garden within the Stokes Nature Center in Utah to increase awareness of wild pollinators.The major research goal of the project is to address the question: How does information flow from genetic and epigenetic variation through expression of this information to produce intraspecific phenotypes adapted to abiotic extremes? Thermal physiology experiments on field-collected and laboratory-reared bumble bees from elevation gradients in the Oregon Cascade Mountains will be combined with genomic, transcriptomic, methylomic, and metabolomic analyses. Computational modeling will be employed to integrate data sets and test how variation in epigenetic modification of DNA in different populations influences gene expression, and ultimately physiology, under cold temperature exposure. Specific research questions include: (1) are bumble bees capable of withstanding similar cold stress exposure regardless of geographic origin, or do individuals, social castes, and populations exhibit constitutive variation in cold tolerance associated with local climate? (2) to what degree do populations exhibit structured variation in DNA methylation, transcription, and metabolomics across environments versus plastic regulation of processes in response to cold stress?, and (3) how do epigenetic changes within individual organisms influence transcription and in turn production of small molecules to explain variation in cold tolerance across individuals, castes, colonies, and environments?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.

了解生物体如何应对环境变化对于生态学和进化生物学至关重要。对环境变化的适应通常是通过检查生物体的外观（表型）及其 DNA 序列（基因型）在广泛的气候条件下如何变化来推断的。然而，人们越来越认识到基因组到表型谱中额外的复杂性层通过改变遗传变异的表达来影响对环境的反应。不同环境条件下的表观遗传或基于非 DNA 序列的 DNA 修饰越来越被认为是驱动生物体对不同环境做出反应的有效机制。同样，与代谢活动（代谢组）相关的不同分子在不同环境中的个体或群体之间可能有所不同，或者可能在压力条件下发生变化以改变生物体功能。跨越海拔的物种在短空间尺度上会经历条件的快速变化，尤其是温度的变化，这为区分不同机制如何影响环境变化的耐受性提供了优势。该项目将重点研究野生和实验室饲养的熊蜂在不同海拔高度的耐热性，熊蜂是受到环境压力威胁的重要传粉媒介。该项目将为了解蜜蜂种群如何克服环境压力提供有价值的工具，这将有助于预测蜜蜂种群的稳定性。阿拉巴马大学、塔斯卡卢萨大学和怀俄明大学的博士后研究员、研究生和本科生将接受分子生物学、生理学和计算建模方法的广泛培训。将为 K-12 学生开发一款策略游戏应用程序，展示不同热条件下分子变化如何影响种群和生态系统。 该研究的结果将通过犹他州斯托克斯自然中心内的本地蜜蜂花园的展览来传播，以提高对野生授粉昆虫的认识。该项目的主要研究目标是解决以下问题：信息如何从遗传和表观遗传中流动通过表达这些信息来产生适应非生物极端的种内表型？对俄勒冈喀斯喀特山脉海拔梯度现场采集和实验室饲养的熊蜂进行的热生理学实验将与基因组学、转录组学、甲基组学和代谢组学分析相结合。计算模型将用于整合数据集，并测试不同人群中 DNA 表观遗传修饰的变化如何影响基因表达，并最终影响低温暴露下的生理学。具体的研究问题包括：（1）无论地理来源如何，熊蜂是否能够承受类似的冷应激暴露，或者个体、社会种姓和种群是否表现出与当地气候相关的耐冷性的组成性变化？ (2) 群体在不同环境中的 DNA 甲基化、转录和代谢组学方面表现出何种程度的结构化变异，以及响应冷应激过程的可塑性调节？ (3) 个体生物体内的表观遗传变化如何影响转录并进而影响生产小分子来解释个体、种姓、群体和环境之间的耐寒性差异？该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

It is buzziness time: rearing, mating, and overwintering Bombus vosnesenskii (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

又到了蜂巢 (Bombus vosnesenskii)（膜翅目：蜜蜂科）的饲养、交配和越冬的忙碌时刻。

• DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/iead089
• 发表时间: 2023-09-01
• 期刊: Journal of Insect Science
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Christman, Morgan E.;Barkan, N. Pinar;Campion, Claire;Heraghty, Sam D.;Keaveny, Ellen C.;Verble, Kelton M.;Waybright, Sarah A.;Dillon, Michael E.;Lozier, Jeffrey D.;Strange, James P.
• 通讯作者: Strange, James P.

Characterizing biological responses to climate variability and extremes to improve biodiversity projections

描述生物对气候变化和极端事件的反应，以改善生物多样性预测

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000226
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: PLOS Climate
• 作者: Buckley, Lauren B.;Carrington, Emily;Dillon, Michael E.;García;Roberts, Steven B.;Wegrzyn, Jill L.;Urban, Mark C.
• 通讯作者: Urban, Mark C.

Sperm can’t take the heat: Short-term temperature exposures compromise fertility of male bumble bees (Bombus impatiens)

精子无法承受热量：短期温度暴露会损害雄性大黄蜂（Bombus impatiens）的生育能力

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2023.104491
• 发表时间: 2023-04
• 期刊: Journal of Insect Physiology
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Campion, Claire;Rajamohan, Arun;Dillon, Michael E.
• 通讯作者: Dillon, Michael E.

Scientists' warning on climate change and insects

科学家对气候变化和昆虫发出警告

• DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1553
• 发表时间: 2023-02
• 期刊: Ecological Monographs
• 影响因子: 6.1
• 作者: Harvey, Jeffrey A.;Tougeron, Kévin;Gols, Rieta;Heinen, Robin;Abarca, Mariana;Abram, Paul K.;Basset, Yves;Berg, Matty;Boggs, Carol;Brodeur, Jacques;et al
• 通讯作者: et al

Metabolomes of bumble bees reared in common garden conditions suggest constitutive differences in energy and toxin metabolism across populations

在普通花园条件下饲养的大黄蜂的代谢组表明，不同种群的能量和毒素代谢存在本质差异

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2023.104581
• 发表时间: 2023-12
• 期刊: Journal of Insect Physiology
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Keaveny, Ellen C.;Helling, Mitchell R.;Basile, Franco;Strange, James P.;Lozier, Jeffrey D.;Dillon, Michael E.
• 通讯作者: Dillon, Michael E.