Collaborative Research: Molecular basis of life history evolution in Drosophila

合作研究：果蝇生命史进化的分子基础

• 批准号: 0848386
• 负责人: Sheng Zhong
• 金额: $ 14.19万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-03-01 至 2013-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0848386&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Molecular; basis; life

Humans and other organisms are enormously genetically variable, even for traits like lifespan and fertility. During the past decade, genes affecting longevity and fertility have been discovered by mutating those genes in laboratory animals and observing the resulting effects. For example, mutations in genes controlling insulin signaling can increase the longevity of worms, flies, and mice by 100% or more. These results beg the question of whether the same genes are responsible for natural variation among individuals, populations, and species in longevity and fertility. This project addresses this question by discovering the genetic basis of life history differences in artificially-selected and in natural populations of an insect, Drosophila melanogaster, for which powerful genetic techniques are available. Expression profiling, genetic mapping, and new statistical techniques will be deployed to identify the genes contributing to longevity and fertility differences between populations. Genes causing variation in longevity and fertility have significant impact on human health and well being. Most of the proposed candidate genes are shared between insects and mammals (including humans), and knowing which genes cause variation in non-inbred animals has important implications for biomedicine. Other significant effects will include training of undergraduate and graduate researchers in the laboratories of all three investigators, and at two ?mini-symposia? that will include all participants, and development of new analytical tools.

人类和其他生物体的遗传变异性很大，即使是寿命和生育能力等特征也是如此。在过去的十年中，通过在实验室动物中突变这些基因并观察所产生的影响，发现了影响寿命和生育力的基因。 例如，控制胰岛素信号的基因突变可以使蠕虫、苍蝇和小鼠的寿命增加100%或更多。 这些结果引出了一个问题，即是否相同的基因负责个体、种群和物种之间在寿命和生育力方面的自然变异。 该项目通过发现一种昆虫-黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）-的人工选择种群和自然种群中生活史差异的遗传基础来解决这一问题。将部署表达谱分析、遗传图谱和新的统计技术，以确定有助于人口之间长寿和生育差异的基因。导致寿命和生育力变异的基因对人类健康和福祉有重大影响。 大多数候选基因都是昆虫和哺乳动物（包括人类）共有的，知道哪些基因会导致非近亲繁殖动物的变异对生物医学具有重要意义。 其他重大影响将包括培训的本科生和研究生研究人员在实验室的所有三个调查员，并在两个？小型研讨会这将包括所有参与者，并开发新的分析工具。