Collaborative Research: Understanding the basis of interactions between adaptive mutations and their environment

基因突变的适应度效应可能因其发生的外部和遗传环境而异。这些突变与外部和遗传环境的相互作用决定了一个潜在的适应性突变实际上会带来好处的普遍性。本研究将实验研究适应性突变的效果如何受到外部环境的影响，外部环境将通过改变生长限制资源的身份来控制，遗传环境将通过将相同的突变引入不同的遗传背景来控制，这里是指单一细菌物种的不同菌株。结果将整合生态、遗传和生化数据，以确定两种类型的环境条件对新的有益突变的影响。突变与其环境之间的相互作用影响着生态和医学上重要特征的传播，例如细菌降解合成化合物或引起疾病的能力。了解这些相互作用背后的因素对于预测突变在新物种和不同环境中的传播至关重要；在气候变化的世界中，这些相互作用对适应的脆弱性或稳健性至关重要。该项目将为从高中到博士后阶段的学生提供跨学科研究培训，包括那些来自传统上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的学生。该项目还将促进实验科学向本科和高中课程的转移。该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。

The fitness effects of genetic mutations can differ depending on the external and genetic environments in which they occur. These interactions of mutations with the external and genetic environments determine the generality with which a potentially adaptive mutation will actually confer a benefit. This research will study experimentally how the effects of adaptive mutations are influenced by the external environment, which will be manipulated by altering the identity of the growth-limiting resource, and the genetic environment, which will be manipulated by introducing identical mutations into distinct genetic backgrounds, here, different strains of a single bacterial species. Results will integrate ecological, genetic, and biochemical data to determine the influence of the two types of environmental conditions on the effect of new beneficial mutations. Interactions between mutations and their environment influence the spread of ecologically and medically important traits, such as the ability of bacteria to degrade synthetic compounds or cause disease. An understanding of the factors underlying these interactions is essential to predict the spread of mutations to new species and across different environments; these interactions are fundamental to the vulnerability or robustness of adaptation in a world of changing climate. This project will provide interdisciplinary research-based training for students from the high school to post-doctoral levels, including those from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. The project also will promote transfer of experimental science to undergraduate and high school curricula. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).