International DDEP: Protein Fingerprint Identification of Brood Parasites in Waterfowl

这个博士论文增强项目（DDEP）与瑞典合作伙伴在哥德堡大学的合作研究将使首席研究员，博士迈克尔S。华盛顿州立大学的韦伯斯特和研究生莱蒂西娅·赖卡特与马尔特·安德森博士一起研究同种幼卵寄生（CBP）。 在水禽中，育雏寄生是指雌性在自己的巢以外的巢中产卵，它们对寄生的后代不提供父爱。 相反，寄宿的雌性承担了与父亲照顾有关的费用。该项目将借鉴动物行为，生理学和多种分子遗传技术的各个方面，以更好地了解这种生殖策略。瑞典研究小组将使用安德森实验室首创的一种被称为蛋白质指纹的工具，将红鸭作为模式生物进行研究。 通过检查雌性之间独特的蛋白质模式，研究人员打算识别寄生产卵的个体雌性，并估计宿主和寄生虫之间的相关性。 从这次合作中获得的数据和证据将用于测试CBP产生的假设，如差异投资理论。 研究结果将有助于基本的行为理论，并可能产生的信息，是有助于水禽的保护和管理。行为系统生物学的DDEP通过使美国和欧洲的初级研究人员和专家能够联合收割机互补人才并在共同感兴趣和能力强的领域共享研究资源，实现了推进科学知识的计划目标。 更广泛的影响包括参与美国研究生的早期职业介绍，以与国际研究界卓越中心的领先科学家进行团队合作。

This doctoral dissertation enhancement project (DDEP) for collaborative research with Swedish partners at Gotenborg University will enable principal investigator, Dr. Michael S. Webster of Washington State University, and graduate student, Letitia Reichart, to work with Dr. Malte Andersson on conspecific brood parasitism (CBP). Among waterfowl, brood parasitism involves females who lay eggs in nests other than their own and they provide no paternal care to their parasitic offspring. Instead, host females incur the costs associated with paternal care. The project will draw upon aspects of animal behavior, physiology, and multiple molecular genetic techniques to gain a better understanding of this reproductive strategy.The U.S.-Swedish team will use a tool pioneered in the Andersson laboratory, known as albumen protein fingerprinting, to study the ruddy duck as a model organism. By examining albumen protein patterns that are unique between females, the researchers intend to identify individual females who lay eggs parasitically and estimate the relatedness between the hosts and parasites. Data and evidence obtained from this collaboration will be used to test hypotheses generated by CBP such as differential investment theory. Results are expected to contribute to basic behavioral theory and may yield information that is helpful in waterfowl conservation and management. A DDEP in behavioral systems biology fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling the junior researcher and experts in the United States and Europe to combine complementary talents and share research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. Broader impacts include early career introduction of the participant U.S. graduate student to teamwork with leading scientists at centers of excellence in the international research community.