NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The genetic basis and fitness consequences of thermogenic flexibility in juncos

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：灯笼草产热灵活性的遗传基础和适应性后果

• 批准号: 2109724
• 负责人: Maria Stager
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Stager, Maria
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109724&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research aims to document the ability of natural populations to respond to environmental change in order to help understand and predict the consequences of ongoing global change. The fellow will investigate how common songbirds in particular, cope with changes in environmental temperature by modifying their physiology and how the ability to do so is encoded by their DNA. This research will make use of samples that the fellow previously collected, as well as provide opportunities for students and community members to engage in additional data collection at neighborhood bird feeders. Determining the causes and consequences of variation in an individual’s ability to reversibly modify its trait values (‘phenotypic flexibility’) necessarily requires linking genotype to phenotype to fitness, though such connections remain rare in vertebrates. Using field studies and laboratory acclimation experiments, the fellow has previously provided empirical evidence that temperature variability drives spatial patterns of variation in physiological flexibility within songbirds in the genus Junco. Utilizing junco tissue samples that the fellow previously collected, they will quantify: (1) genomic patterns of variation associated with differences in physiological flexibility; (2) variation in gene expression underlying flexible physiological changes; and (3) selection on loci associated with physiological flexibility in the wild. This will be achieved using association methods to identify loci related to flexibility, performing validation of these results with gene expression profiles, and assessing selection on these genotypes in the wild. Taken together, this work will identify the genetic basis of junco physiological flexibility and provide a mechanistic understanding of the ability of natural populations to respond to environmental change. A major training goal of this work is to expand the fellow’s proficiencies generating and analyzing genomic data, as well as to develop their skills in science communication and mentoring. Throughout the fellow’s tenure, they will work with their mentor to help recruit and provide support for undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds, as well as engage the surrounding communities in the scientific process and communicate with them through public presentations and classroom visits. Additionally, the research endeavors to extend the current utility of radio frequency identification technology for avian research.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.

这项行动为2021财年的生物学生物学奖学金提供了一项NSF博士后研究奖学金，综合研究研究了基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生活规则。奖学金支持对研究员的研究和培训，这些研究和培训将以创新的方式为生活规则做出贡献。这项研究旨在记录自然种群应对环境变化的能力，以帮助理解和预测持续的全球变化的后果。该研究员将通过修改其生理学以及如何通过其DNA编码的能力来研究普通鸣鸟如何应对环境温度的变化。这项研究将利用先前收集的同胞的样本，并为学生和社区成员提供在邻里喂鸟器中进行其他数据收集的机会。确定个人在不可逆地修改其性状值（“表型灵活性”）能力中变异的原因和后果，必须需要将基因型与表型与适应性联系起来，尽管这种连接在脊椎动物中仍然很少见。使用现场研究和实验室适应实验，该研究员先前提供了经验证据，表明温度可变性可导致junco属的鸣禽内物理柔韧性变化的空间模式。利用先前收集的同伴的JUNCO组织样品，它们将量化：（1）与身体柔韧性差异相关的变异基因组模式； （2）柔性生理变化的基因表达变化； （3）选择与野外身体柔韧性相关的局部选择。这将是使用关联方法来确定与柔韧性相关的局部方法，对这些结果进行基因表达谱的验证以及对野外这些基因型的评估选择的验证。综上所述，这项工作将确定JUNCO生理灵活性的遗传基础，并提供对自然种群对环境变化反应能力的机械理解。这项工作的主要培训目标是扩大同伴的能力产生和分析基因组数据，并发展其科学沟通和心理方面的技能。在整个同伴任期中，他们将与他们的导师合作，帮助招募来自基础演讲背景的本科生，并为周围社区提供科学过程，并通过公开演讲和课堂访问与他们进行交流。此外，研究旨在扩展鸟类研究的射频识别技术的当前效用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准通过评估来支持的。