NSF PRFB FY 2023: Assessing morphological, behavioral, and genetic impacts of methylmercury on spiders.

NSF PRFB 2023 财年：评估甲基汞对蜘蛛的形态、行为和遗传影响。

• 批准号: 2305949
• 负责人: Madeline Hannappel
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Hannappel, Madeline Pratt
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-01 至 2027-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305949&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; PRFB; FY; 2023; Assessing

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, 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. Specifically, this research will assess the effects of a contaminant of global concern, Methylmercury (MeHg), on spiders. It is important to understand MeHg accumulation and its toxic effects on organisms to accurately assess risks of MeHg contamination. Spiders are exposed to MeHg by consuming MeHg-contaminated prey and recently were proposed as tools for monitoring MeHg in the environment; called “sentinels”: organisms that accumulate a pollutant in their tissues without significant adverse effects. However, little is known about MeHg toxicity in spiders or other invertebrates. This project’s goal is to investigate sub-lethal effects of MeHg on spiders behavior, growth, reproduction, and gene expression. The proposed study will advance scientific understanding about the impact of environmental MeHg contamination on individual spiders and predict effects on spider communities, other invertebrates, and ecosystems exposed to MeHg. The research program will directly involve undergraduate and high school students from underrepresented communities and is designed to empower students to pursue scientific careers through hands-on research experiences, skills development, and one-on-one mentorship. Sub-lethal effects of MeHg on spiders will be tested through a series of laboratory feeding experiments (short-term, long-term, and multigenerational dietary exposures), and field studies sampling spiders from locations with high and low MeHg contamination. Spiders exposed to MeHg are hypothesized to show 1) physical, behavioral, and gene expression effects, 2) different effects by exposure duration, spider taxa, and spider life stage, and 3) multigenerational effects on reproduction, growth, and development. Measurements of sub-lethal effects will include multiple physical and behavioral endpoints (e.g., body condition, prey capture, size at maturity, and egg production), and gene expression determined by sequencing spider RNA (transcriptome analysis for differentially expressed genes). The fellow’s training will include transcriptome sequencing and data analysis, specifically, methods to identify and characterize genes associated with adverse effects of MeHg. In addition to insights into the mechanisms of MeHg toxicity in spiders, this project will contribute to genomic and transcriptomic knowledge about spiders and inform future studies outside of contaminant toxicology. This research will benefit the broader public through planned outreach programs and educational products around using spiders to studying environmental contaminants.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财年生物学的NSF博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，该研究综合研究调查了有关基因组，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。具体而言，这项研究将评估全球关注的污染物甲基汞（MEHG）对蜘蛛的影响。了解MEHG积累及其对生物体的有毒作用很重要，以准确评估MEHG污染的风险。蜘蛛通过食用被MEHG污染的猎物而暴露于MEHG，并最近提议作为监测环境中MEHG的工具；称为“哨兵”：在组织中积累污染物而没有明显不利影响的生物。但是，对于蜘蛛或其他无脊椎动物中的MEHG毒性知之甚少。该项目的目标是研究MEHG对蜘蛛行为，生长，繁殖和基因表达的亚致死作用。拟议的研究将提高人们对环境MEHG污染对单个蜘蛛的影响的科学理解，并预测对蜘蛛群落，其他无脊椎动物和暴露于MEHG的生态系统的影响。该研究计划将直接涉及来自代表性不足社区的本科生和高中生，旨在通过动手研究经验，技能发展和一对一的心态来使学生能够从事科学职业。 MEHG对蜘蛛的亚致死作用将通过一系列实验室喂养实验（短期，长期和多代饮食暴露）进行测试，并从高和低MEHG污染的位置对蜘蛛进行采样蜘蛛。假设暴露于MEHG的蜘蛛显示出1）物理，行为和基因表达影响，2）暴露持续时间，蜘蛛分类群和蜘蛛生命阶段以及3）对生殖，生长和发育的多代影响。亚致死作用的测量将包括多个物理和行为终点（例如，身体状况，捕食，成熟时的大小和卵产生）以及通过测序蜘蛛RNA确定的基因表达（对不同表达基因的转录组分析）。同伴的培训将包括转录组测序和数据分析，特别是识别和表征与MEHG不良影响相关的基因的方法。除了深入了解蜘蛛中MEHG毒性的机制外，该项目还将有助于有关蜘蛛的基因组和转录学知识，并为污染物毒理学以外的未来研究提供信息。这项研究将通过计划的外展计划和教育产品围绕使用蜘蛛来研究环境污染物的更广泛的公众受益。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，认为通过评估被认为是宝贵的支持。