Evolutionary Genetics of Hydroid Allorecognition

生物系统以存在几个不同的分子识别系统而闻名。有一小部分识别系统足够精确，足够多变，足以识别同一物种个体之间的差异。例如，在农业领域，植物的花粉相容性系统，以及在医学领域，识别疾病的免疫受体和逃避免疫受体的疾病受体。另一类高度可变但精确的决定因素是那些控制群体动物在接触时是融合还是排斥的因素。控制这种现象的基因最近已经被确定。该项目将确定这些基因在自然种群中的变异程度，这种变异是否主要是在相应基因的序列中，还是这种变异是结构性的，并确定所记录的变异是否足以解释野生种群的融合和排斥。这项工作的更广泛的影响包括，基于高度可变识别系统的可比研究，识别遗传变异产生和/或维持的新机制的可能性。此外，该项目将为联合培训的研究生提供分子遗传学和海洋生物学方面独特的跨学科培训，并继续培训代表性不足的少数民族和参加当地高中的研究课程。

Biological systems are notable for the existence of several distinct systems of molecular recognition. A small subset of recognition systems is sufficiently precise and sufficiently variable as to permit recognition of variation between individuals of the same species. Examples include in the realm of agriculture, the pollen compatibility system of plants, and in the realm of medicine, the immune receptors that recognize disease and disease receptors that evade immune receptors. An additional prominent class of highly variable, yet precise determinants are those that control whether colonial animals fuse or reject on contact. The genes that control such phenomena have recently been identified. This project will determine the extent of variation in these genes in natural populations, whether this variation is primarily in the sequence of corresponding genes or whether that variation is structural, and determine whether the variation documented is or is not sufficient to explain fusion and rejection in the wild. The broader impacts of this work include the possibility, based on comparable studies of highly variable recognition systems, of identifying of novel mechanisms by which genetic variation is created and/or maintained. In addition, the project will provide a unique interdisciplinary training in molecular genetics and marine biology for jointly trained graduate students, as well as to continue to train underrepresented minorities and participate in local high school research curricula.