NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Characterizing Ecological and Genetic Mechanisms of Hybrid Vigor in Boechera

NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：表征 Boechera 杂交活力的生态和遗传机制

• 批准号: 2305718
• 负责人: Gabrielle Sandstedt
• 金额: $ 24.9万
• 依托单位: Sandstedt, Gabrielle D
• 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: 2023-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305718&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Characterizing

This action funds an NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Gabrielle Sandstedt is "Investigating the genetic and ecological basis of hybrid vigor in nature". The host institution for the fellowship is Utah State University and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Catherine Rushworth and Emily Josephs. A critical concern for plant breeding is ensuring food security in a world impacted by climate change. One approach to this problem is breeding genetically divergent plants to create hybrids that outperform their parents in survival and reproduction, a phenomenon called hybrid vigor. While hybrid vigor has led to the formation of many hybrid crops, it is not understood how hybrids will respond to changing environments. This work utilizes Boechera, a wildflower system to deepen an understanding of the genetics and ecology of hybrid vigor in nature. Such knowledge can be implemented to secure the food supply. Additionally, this research will allow to promote equitable opportunities for students in academia by participating in programs that support undergraduates from diverse backgrounds, such as Utah State University's Native American Summer Mentorship Program. The research also presents valuable opportunities initiating public discussions on the role of research in developing crops that meet the needs of a growing population. The Fellow will coordinate these discussions and provide learning activities at the longstanding scientific lecture series Science Unwrapped, a science outreach program hosted by Utah State University.The purpose of this research is to identify ecological variables and genetic mechanisms that facilitate hybrid vigor in nature. To pinpoint the effects of key environmental variables on hybrid vigor, parental lines and hybrid combinations of two Boechera species, along with wild-collected hybrids, will be planted in a manipulative field experiment and measured for fitness. The next objective uses genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data of natural hybrids and de novo crosses to determine the genetic mechanisms involved in hybrid vigor. This includes characterizing the distribution of genetic load within Boechera species, examining whether heterozygosity masking these alleles in hybrids predicts fitness across environments, and determining how differential gene expression underlying hybrid vigor phenotypes varies across environments. The research will generate extensive data, including seed collections, plant tissue samples, fitness and trait measurements (which will be submitted to https://datadryad.org), and several types of genomic sequence data (which will be made available on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra). Together, these data will reveal ecological and genetic factors that contribute to hybrid vigor while providing substantial ecological and genetic resources.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2023财年的生物学生物学研究金奖学金提供了一项NSF植物基因组研究奖学金。该奖学金支持该研究员的主机实验室研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与计划的计划。加布里埃尔·桑德斯特特（Gabrielle Sandstedt）这项研究金的研究和培训计划的标题是“研究自然界中混合活力的遗传和生态基础”。奖学金的主持机构是犹他州立大学，赞助科学家是Drs。凯瑟琳·拉什沃思和艾米丽·约瑟夫斯。植物育种的关键问题是在受气候变化影响的世界中确保粮食安全。解决这个问题的一种方法是繁殖遗传上不同的植物，以创造杂种，使其在生存和繁殖中的父母胜过，这是一种称为杂种活力的现象。尽管混合活力导致了许多混合作物的形成，但尚不清楚混合动力如何对不断变化的环境做出反应。这项工作利用Boechera，这是一种野花系统，可以加深对自然界混合活力的遗传学和生态的理解。可以实施此类知识以确保食品供应。此外，这项研究将通过参与支持来自不同背景的本科生的计划，例如犹他州大学的美国原住民夏季指导计划，从而为学术界的学生提供公平的机会。这项研究还提供了宝贵的机会，发起了有关研究在满足不断增长的人群需求的农作物中的作用中的作用的公众讨论。该研究员将在犹他州立大学主持的一项科学宣传计划的长期科学讲座系列科学上协调这些讨论，并提供学习活动。这项研究的目的是确定生态变量和遗传机制，以促进自然界的混合活力。为了确定关键环境变量对杂种活力的影响，将在操纵场实验中种植两种Boechera物种的父母系和杂种组合以及野生收集的杂种。下一个目标使用自然杂种和从头杂交的基因组和转录组测序数据来确定杂交活力涉及的遗传机制。这包括表征BoeChera物种中遗传负荷的分布，研究杂合性掩盖了混合动力中的这些等位基因是否可以预测跨环境的适应性，并确定杂交活力表型的差异基因表达如何在整个环境之间变化。这项研究将产生广泛的数据，包括种子收集，植物组织样品，健身和性状测量值（将提交给https://datadryad.org）以及几种类型的基因组序列数据（将在https://wwwwwwwwwwwwwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra上提供。这些数据共同揭示了有助于混合活力的生态和遗传因素，同时提供了实质性的生态和遗传资源。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和更广泛影响的评估审查标准来通过评估来支持的。