Research Starter Grant

最近的几项研究利用寄生虫的进化史来推断人类进化史的各个方面。例如，一项研究回顾了寄生虫作为人类进化史标记的使用，并指出人类的五种寄生虫（虱子，绦虫，毛囊螨，原生动物和臭虫）具有密切相关的分类对，表明人类种群长期隔离。在由NSF博士后奖学金资助的工作中，Reed博士使用人类的寄生虱子来证明灵长类动物和他们的寄生虱子至少在过去的2000万年里一直在共同进化。 这项研究的一个局限性是依赖于单一基因史（即，线粒体DNA）来推断宿主进化历史。这项提案旨在增加核标记，以更好地评估这些虱子及其人类宿主的共同进化历史。然而，核标记物的加入也将使假设的检验成为可能，而这些假设仅用线粒体数据是不可能的。这项研究将在几个方面开辟新天地，因为使用寄生虫数据来推断宿主进化历史在很大程度上尚未探索。由于单核苷酸多态性（SNP）数据不常用于非模式生物，这项工作将有助于完善其在种群遗传学研究中的应用。最后，这项工作将开发新的分析技术，用于估计种群特征，如“两个种群在长期分离后重新连接了多久”。“具体来说，里德博士将使用核标记来确定这些基因座重组了多久。更广泛的影响：寄生虫数据的使用还没有得到人类学家的广泛接受。这项工作可能会改变这一趋势，发表在跨学科和人类学期刊时，并提出这些发现在人类学会议和研讨会。里德博士的研究在培养年轻科学家在进化生物学领域工作方面非常成功（特别是那些在科学领域代表性不足的科学家），他希望通过这个项目继续这一趋势。这笔启动资金还将使Reed博士的实验室能够快速积累目前缺乏的核基因座（SNP和微卫星数据）。 这笔资金将大大增强一个更大的群体，而不仅仅是里德博士，因为这些设施将在许多同事之间共享。

Several recent studies have used the evolutionary history of parasites to infer aspects of human evolutionary history. For example, one study reviewed the use of parasites as markers of human evolutionary history, and pointed out that five parasites of humans (lice, tapeworms, follicle mites, a protozoan, and bedbugs) have closely related taxonomic pairs that suggest long periods of isolation for human populations. In work funded by an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Reed used the parasitic lice of humans to show that primates and their parasitic lice have been co-evolving for at least the last 20 million years. One limitation of this study was reliance on a single gene history (i.e., mitochondrial DNA) to infer host evolutionary history. This proposal seeks to add nuclear markers to better evaluate the coevolutionary history of these lice and their human hosts. However, the addition of nuclear markers will also enable tests of hypotheses that were not possible with mitochondrial data alone. This research will break new ground on several fronts, as the use of parasite data to infer host evolutionary history is still largely unexplored. Because single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data are not often used in non-model organisms, this work will help to refine their use for population genetic studies.Lastly, this work will develop new analytical techniques for estimating population characteristics, such as "how long two populations have been reconnected after long separation." Specifically, Dr. Reed will use nuclear markers to determine how long these loci have been recombining. Each of these advancements will be beneficial to a large group of biologists.Broader Impacts: The use of parasite data has not gained wide acceptance among anthropologists just yet. This work may change this trend by publishing in cross-disciplinary and anthropological journals when possible, and presenting these findings at anthropological meetings and symposia. Dr. Reed's research has been very successful in training young scientists to work in the field of evolutionary biology (especially those that are underrepresented in the sciences), and he expects to continue this trend with this project. This starter grant will also enable Dr. Reed's laboratory to achieve the rapid accumulation of nuclear loci (SNP and microsatellite data), which it currently lacks. This funding would be a great enhancement to a much larger group than just Dr. Reed's, as these facilities would be shared among many colleagues.