NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: The Roles of Gene Flow and Local Adaptation in Driving Fitness in a Genetically Depauperate Fish

美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后奖学金：基因流和局部适应在促进基因退化鱼类健康中的作用

• 批准号: 2209230
• 负责人: Morgan Sparks
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Sparks, Morgan
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209230&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Roles

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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 addresses how isolated populations with low genetic diversity persist with focus on a subspecies of cutthroat trout: the greenback cutthroat. The greenback cutthroat, despite being Colorado’s state fish, was nearly extirpated and has been reduced to a single surviving population and a handful of reintroduced populations founded from that one population. This project seeks to compare genetic diversity between greenback cutthroat and a close relative at the landscape and population levels and then link those data with the ability for recovery populations in new habitats. The project leverages a past experiment in which the two subspecies were crossed to identify genomic features that contribute to fitness and boost the genetic diversity of greenback cutthroat without swamping the genetic features that are specific to the subspecies. The project will also bring these methods into the classroom at a local minority serving college to help train students in these cutting-edge technologies.The goal of this project is to link the genetic basis of phenotypic traits to their interaction with the environment for a genetically depauperate and isolated fish. This research will provide a predictive framework in which genomic features identified with whole-genome sequencing at three ecological and demographic scales are linked to individual fitness. First, it will assess standing genetic variation in two subspecies, the greenback and the closely related Colorado River cutthroat trout, and identify loci correlated with key environmental features using genetic-environmental analyses. It will then focus on recently reintroduced populations to measure how genetic diversity at introduction predicts the populations persistence via phenotypic plasticity or rapid adaptation. Lastly, genomic data from the two subspecies and their hybrids will be used to identify loci associated with inbreeding load and negative fitness in greenback cutthroat. These data will inform how genetic variation and environmental attributes manifest as individual fitness and the relative ability of each subspecies to adapt to changing conditions as a function of genetic diversity. Finally, the Fellow will lead both field and bench modules at a local, minority serving institution with the goal of introducing skills beneficial to career development and in pursuit of advanced degrees in STEM.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.

该行动为2022财年的生物学生物学研究金提供了一项NSF博士后研究奖学金，该研究研究了研究基因组，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。这项研究探讨了遗传多样性低的孤立人群如何持续到关注Cutthroat Trout的亚种：绿色的Cutthroat。绝望的绿色cutthroat几乎被灭绝，已被灭绝，已沦为一个幸存的人口，以及从该人群中建立的少数重新引入的人群。该项目旨在比较绿色的残酷与景观和人口水平的近亲之间的遗传多样性，然后将这些数据与新栖息地中的恢复人群的能力联系起来。利用了过去的实验，其中两个亚种被交叉以识别有助于适应性并增强绿色肠球残阿的遗传多样性的基因组特征，而无需淹没亚种特有的遗传特征。该项目还将将这些方法带入当地少数派服务学院的课堂，以帮助培训学生采用这些尖端技术。该项目的目的是将表型特征的遗传基础与与环境的相互作用联系起来，以获得遗传性脱水和孤立的鱼类。这项研究将提供一个预测性框架，在该框架中，在三个生态和人口统计学量表上鉴定出具有全基因组测序的基因组特征与个体适应性相关。首先，它将评估两个亚种的遗传变异，即绿背和密切相关的科罗拉多河cutthroat鳟鱼，并使用遗传环境分析识别与关键环境特征相关的基因座。然后，它将集中在最近重新引入的种群上，以衡量引入中遗传多样性如何通过表型可塑性或快速适应来预测种群的持久性。最后，来自两个亚种及其混合动力的基因组数据将用于识别与植物载荷和绿色残留量的负适应性相关的局部数据。这些数据将告知遗传变异和环境属性如何表现为个人适应性以及每个亚种的相对能力适应不断变化的条件作为遗传多样性的函数。最后，该研究员将在当地的少数族裔服务机构中领导现场和板凳模块，以介绍有益于职业发展的技能，并追求STEM中的高级学位。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来审查审查标准来通过评估来获得的支持。