Collaborative Research: EDGE CMT: A four-dimensional genotype-phenotype map of poison frog skin color

合作研究：EDGE CMT：毒蛙肤色的四维基因型-表型图

• 批准号: 2319711
• 负责人: Rebecca Tarvin
• 金额: $ 155.75万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-12-15 至 2027-11-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319711&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; EDGE; CMT; four

Coloration plays important ecological roles in animals, including mate choice, thermoregulation, and avoiding predation. However, the understanding of how animals produce coloration is based on only a few species and large gaps in knowledge remain. For example, very little is known about how amphibians, one of the major groups of vertebrate animals, produce their beautiful array of colors and patterns. This project will leverage recent advances in genomic and developmental biology to identify the genes that control color and color patterning in three species of poison frogs that represent some of the most colorful and charismatic vertebrates. The development of poison frogs as a model system for the study of coloration will identify key biological mechanisms that contribute to coloration, and open new avenues of research into genetics of color in other animals. The proposed research will also train undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers in cutting-edge genomic techniques. Project personnel will communicate research results to the public using visual displays of live frogs, children’s books written in Spanish, and a virtual field experience based on scientific field work which will be made available freely online. The proposed research will create a four-dimensional genotype-to-phenotype map of poison frog skin coloration using methods that link color and pattern to their underlying genetics. Color and pattern phenotypes will be examined using a combination of computational analysis of images, spectrophotometry, metabolomics and their genetic underpinnings will be examined using genome sequencing of several genera, species and populations, genome wide association studies, and RNAseq. Results will be synthesized using in-situ hybridization to track the expression of candidate genes over the course of development and spatial RNA sequencing to track gene expression in specific skin regions of the frogs, both of which will then be mapped onto images of skin structure obtained using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Finally, key candidate patterning genes will be validated using CRISPR. Results will be integrated into a four-dimensional map connecting genetic variants and spatial gene expression with phenotypic variation in color, color patterning, and pigment organization, and visualized using TEM images. This holistic approach, focusing on three independent origins of spot and stripe patterning, will provide key insights into general mechanisms underlying color variation in vertebrates. Furthermore, poison frogs are known for having large, complex genomes, so this work will provide a guide to future investigators on how to connect genotype to phenotype in difficult systems.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.

着色在动物中起着重要的生态作用，包括伴侣的选择，温度调节和避免预测。但是，对动物如何产生颜色的理解仅基于几种物种，并且知识中的较大差距仍然存在。例如，关于两栖动物（脊椎动物的主要群体之一）如何产生美丽的颜色和图案的知识知之甚少。该项目将利用基因组和发育生物学的最新进展来识别在三种代表一些最丰富多彩和最关键的脊椎动物的毒蛙中控制颜色和颜色图案的基因。毒蛙作为颜色研究的模型系统的发展将确定有助于颜色的关键生物学机制，并为其他动物的颜色遗传学研究开放新的研究途径。拟议的研究还将培训本科生，研究生和博士后研究人员的尖端基因组技术。项目人员将使用现场青蛙的视觉展示，用西班牙语书写的儿童读物以及基于科学现场工作的虚拟现场经验向公众传达研究结果，并将在线免费提供。拟议的研究将使用将颜色和模式与其基本遗传学联系起来的方法，创建毒蛙肤色的四维基因型至表型图。将使用几个属，种群​​和种群的基因组测序，基因组广泛的关联研究和RNASEQ的基因组测序，研究将检查颜色和模式表型的颜色和模式表型。结果将使用原位杂交合成，以跟踪在发育过程中和空间RNA测序过程中候选基因的表达，以跟踪青蛙特定皮肤区域中的基因表达，然后将它们映射到使用透射电子显微镜（TEM）获得的皮肤结构图像上。最后，将使用CRISPR验证关键候选图案基因。结果将集成到连接遗传变异和空间基因表达与表型变化的颜色，颜色图案和色素组织的四维图中，并使用TEM图像可视化。这种整体方法着重于斑点和条纹图案的三个独立起源，将为脊椎动物颜色变化的一般机制提供关键的见解。此外，毒蛙以具有大型，复杂的基因组而闻名，因此这项工作将为未来的研究人员提供有关如何将基因型与困难系统中的表型联系起来的指南。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优点和更广泛的审查标准来通过评估来通过评估来获得的支持。