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.

该行动资助 2023 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大生物学领域代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。沙漠生物已经进化出独特的策略，可以在没有营养的情况下长时间生存，尤其是在极端炎热的压力条件下。有趣的是，与其他适应沙漠的生物不同，骆驼蜘蛛具有高新陈代谢和能量低效的穴居习惯。该研究员将使用骆驼蜘蛛作为模型来了解这种意想不到的生物学，并研究各种气候下耐热性的分子基础和进化。 了解生态适应模式以及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非常重要。培训目标包括在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校和耶路撒冷希伯来大学获得基因组测序和生物信息学方面的新技能。通过该奖学金的支持还将为研究员提供公共宣传、科学教育和指导来自代表性不足的背景的下一代有抱负的科学家的机会。这项研究将调查一组蜘蛛纲动物中压力相关蛋白与生态适应之间的关联被称为骆驼蜘蛛。与其他蛛形纲动物相反，骆驼蜘蛛在极端环境中进化出了独特的行为，因此可能进化出了一种全新的机制来承受高压力环境。应激蛋白对不同水平的热条件的表达模式的差异可能促进了该群体的适应性分化。使用新一代测序技术，该研究员将 1) 研究压力相关蛋白的表达动态和在促进以色列骆驼蜘蛛跨气候梯度多样化方面的作用；2) 探索在系统发育背景下，此类蛋白的功能差异。螯合物中的蛋白质以确定骆驼蜘蛛是否进化出了一种应对压力的替代机制。了解应激耐受性的分子进化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为公众外展、来自代表性不足社区的 K-12 学生开发无障碍教育材料，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 的法定使命，并被视为值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。