CAREER/RUI: Genetic Basis of Sperm Precedence and Sex-Specific Fitness in Fruit Flies

职业/RUI：果蝇精子优先和性别特异性适应性的遗传基础

• 批准号: 9734008
• 负责人: Kimberly Hughes
• 金额: $ 29.5万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-02-15 至 2002-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9734008&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; RUI; Genetic; Basis; Sperm

9734008 Hughes This project builds upon previous research indicating that genetic variation for male fertility in Drosophila melanogaster is due to one or a few major-effect genes on the third chromosome. Other fitness traits in fruit flies (female fecundity, male mating success, larval viability) seem to be affected by variation at many genes of small or moderate effect, so male fertility is unusual in its genetic determination. An experiment will be conducted to map genes affecting male fertility to specific locations on the chromosome. It is expected that this mapping will eventually lead to the identification of genes causing variation in the trait. Measurement of specific properties of these genes (e.g., average effect, dominance and epistasis) will provide explicit tests of models of the causes of variation. Another experiment involves measuring genetic and environmental contributions to variation for sex-specific fitness. One of the goals of this experiment is to determine whether genes that have beneficial effects on one sex, but deleterious effects on the other (sexually-antagonistic effects) are involved in the maintenance of genetic variation within populations. The second primary emphasis of this project is educational. Undergraduate students will be involved in every phase of the research effort. In addition, new courses and course modules that exploit molecular genetic techniques will be introduced into the undergraduate curriculum. Populations of organisms, including humans, are genetically diverse for traits related to reproduction, developmental rate, lifespan, and disease resistance. Because they largely determine the lifetime reproductive output of an organism, these life-history traits should be subject to very strong forces that eliminate variation. Yet most populations retain substantial variation for these traits. One of the main goals of population genetics is to gain an understanding of the forces responsible for maintaining this variat ion. Genetic diversity can have a direct impact on human health and longevity (when it occurs in humans or in human pathogens), on the productivity of agricultural systems (when it occurs in agriculturally important species), and on the risks of extinction for threatened and endangered species (when it occurs in these species, their pathogens, or their competitors). This proposal describes two related projects designed to investigate the genetic basis of life-history traits, and to test specific theoretical models of the maintenance of genetic diversity. The educational emphasis of this project is focused on undergraduate researchers, and the introduction of new molecular techniques into the classroom.

9734008休斯这个项目建立在先前研究的基础上，该研究表明，果蝇雄性生育能力的遗传变异是由于第三染色体上的一个或几个主效基因。果蝇的其他适合性性状(雌性繁殖力、雄性交配成功率、幼虫存活率)似乎受到许多中小效应基因变异的影响，因此雄性可育性在遗传决定上是不寻常的。将进行一项实验，将影响男性生育能力的基因定位到染色体上的特定位置。预计这一图谱最终将导致对导致性状变异的基因的识别。测量这些基因的特定属性(例如，平均效应、显性和上位性)将为变异原因的模型提供明确的测试。另一项实验涉及测量基因和环境对性别适应性变异的贡献。这项实验的目标之一是确定对一种性别有益，但对另一种性别有害的基因(性对抗效应)是否与维持种群内的遗传变异有关。这个项目的第二个主要重点是教育。本科生将参与研究工作的每一个阶段。此外，利用分子基因技术的新课程和课程模块将被引入本科课程。生物种群，包括人类，在与生殖、发育速度、寿命和抗病相关的特征上具有遗传多样性。因为它们在很大程度上决定了生物体一生的繁殖产出，所以这些生活史特征应该受到消除变异的非常强大的力量的影响。然而，大多数种群在这些特征上保留了很大的变异。种群遗传学的主要目标之一是了解维持这种变异的力量。遗传多样性可对人类健康和寿命产生直接影响(当它发生在人类或人类病原体中时)，对农业系统的生产力产生直接影响(当它发生在农业上重要的物种时)，以及对受威胁和濒危物种的灭绝风险(当它发生在这些物种、它们的病原体或它们的竞争者中时)。这项建议描述了两个相关的项目，旨在调查生活史特征的遗传基础，并测试维持遗传多样性的具体理论模型。这个项目的教育重点是本科生研究人员，以及将新的分子技术引入课堂。