NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Investigating the role of thermal stress response in facilitating adaptation in camel spiders

美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后奖学金：研究热应激反应在促进骆驼蜘蛛适应中的作用

• 批准号: 2305969
• 负责人: Erika Garcia
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Garcia, Erika Loaiza
• 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: 2024-11-01 至 2027-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305969&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Investigating

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Desert organisms have evolved unique strategies to survive long periods without nutrients, especially under stressful conditions like extreme heat. Interestingly, unlike other desert adapted organisms, camel spiders have a high metabolism and energy inefficient burrowing habits. The Fellow will use camel spiders as a model to understand this unexpected biology and investigate the molecular basis and evolution of thermal tolerance across a range of climates. Understanding patterns of ecological adaptation, how camel spiders live in desert conditions, is important to predict future change in some of the harshest habitats in the world. The training objectives include acquiring new skills in genomic sequencing and bioinformatics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Support through this fellowship will also provide the Fellow with opportunities for public outreach, science education, and mentoring the next generation of aspiring scientists from underrepresented backgrounds.This research will investigate the association between stress-related proteins and ecological adaptation in a group of arachnids commonly known as camel spiders. Contrary to other arachnids, camel spiders have evolved unique behaviors in extreme environments, thus may have evolved a completely novel mechanism to withstand high stress environments. Differences in expression patterns of stress proteins in response to varying levels of thermal conditions may be facilitating adaptive divergence in this group. Using next-generation sequencing techniques, the Fellow will 1) investigate the expression dynamics and role of stress-related proteins in promoting diversification of camel spiders across a climate gradient in Israel and 2) explore the functional divergence, in a phylogenomic context, of such proteins within chelicerates to determine if camel spiders have evolved an alternative mechanism in response to stress. Understanding the molecular evolution of stress tolerance is essential to predicting future impacts in changing environments. Additionally, this award will support the Fellow in developing accessible educational material for public outreach, K-12 students from underrepresented communities, and will support the Fellow in creating research opportunities for undergraduates from diverse backgrounds.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提供了一项NSF博士后研究奖学金，扩大了在生物学中代表不足的群体的参与。奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，这将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。沙漠生物已经发展出独特的策略，可以在没有营养的情况下长期生存，尤其是在极端高温等压力条件下。有趣的是，与其他沙漠改编的生物不同，骆驼蜘蛛具有很高的代谢和效率低下的挖洞习惯。该研究员将使用骆驼蜘蛛作为模型来了解这种意外的生物学，并研究在一系列气候中热耐受性的分子基础和进化。 了解生态适应的模式，即骆驼蜘蛛如何在沙漠条件下生活，对于预测世界上一些最恶劣的栖息地的未来变化很重要。培训目标包括在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校和耶路撒冷的希伯来大学获得基因组测序和生物信息学的新技能。通过这项奖学金的支持还将为这位研究员提供公共外展，科学教育的机会，并指导来自代表性不足的背景的下一代有抱负的科学家。这项研究将调查与压力相关的蛋白质与一组蛛网膜相关的蛋白质与生态适应之间的关联。与其他蛛网动物相反，骆驼蜘蛛在极端环境中发展了独特的行为，因此可能已经发展出一种完全新颖的机制来承受高应力环境。应力蛋白的表达模式响应不同水平的热条件水平的差异可能会促进该组的适应性差异。使用下一代的测序技术，同伴会1）研究与压力相关的蛋白在以色列促进骆驼蜘蛛在气候梯度跨气候梯度上的多样化和2）探索功能差异的作用差异的作用差异，以确定对螯合剂的压力响应的机制，以使某种抗反应的机制，以使脑介绍性的抗应力。了解压力耐受性的分子演变对于预测不断变化的环境中的未来影响至关重要。此外，该奖项将支持该研究员开发公众宣传，来自代表性不足的社区的K-12学生，并将支持该研究员为来自不同背景的本科生创造研究机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被视为值得的支持。