NSF Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship for FY 2009

这一行动为2009财年国家科学基金会少数民族博士后研究奖学金提供资金，并根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为该研究员制定的研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与度的计划。雨果·E·奎瓦斯的这项研究和培训计划的标题是“甘蓝近等基因系的发展和复制基因组区域的命运”。这项研究的主办机构是佐治亚-雅典大学的植物基因组图谱实验室，赞助科学家是安德鲁·H·帕特森博士。个体之间的大多数差异是以数量的方式遗传的，这表明许多基因与这些特征有关。然而，只有很少的这样的基因被识别出来，因此，对这种“数量性状”的遗传的理解是不完整的。近等基因系是只有一个明确定义的染色体区域不同的植物，它允许人们测量这样一个单一染色体区域的基因差异的影响。这项研究的重点是开发一组几乎等基因的品系，这些品系共同覆盖甘蓝的整个基因组。这一物种是研究数量性状的杰出模式，因为它的形态变异范围非常大(从卷心菜到花椰菜)；它的复杂基因组，一些染色体区域重复，另一些三倍。培训目标包括改进以前的遗传知识和技能以及学习新的分子技术。更广泛的影响包括生物科学研究生中拉美裔人数的增加以及对科学和教育的影响。由此产生的近等基因系将成为科学界的研究资源，并适用于广泛的生物学问题。它们将向公众开放，对于对植物生物学和遗传学感兴趣的高中生和大学生来说，它们是一个宝贵的教育工具。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009 and is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Hugo E. Cuevas is "The development of nearly isogenic lines and the fate of the duplicated genome regions in Brassica oleracea." The host institution for this research is the Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory at University of Georgia-Athens and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Andrew H. Paterson. Most differences among individuals are inherited in a quantitative manner indicating that many genes are involved in these traits. However, only few such genes have been identified, therefore, understanding of the inheritance of such "quantitative traits" is incomplete. Nearly isogenic lines, which are plants differing by only a single well-defined chromosomal region, allow one to measure the effects of gene differences in such a single chromosomal region. This research is focusing on developing a panel of nearly isogenic lines which collectively cover the entire genome of Brassica oleracea. This species is an outstanding model to study quantitative traits due to its extraordinary range of morphological variation (from cabbage to cauliflower); and to its complex genome, with some chromosomal regions duplicated and others triplicated.Training objectives include improving previous genetic knowledge and skills as well as learning new molecular techniques. Broader impacts include increasing the number of Hispanics in graduate biological science as well as scientific and educational impacts. The resulting nearly isogenic lines will be a research resource for the scientific community and applicable to a wide range of biological questions. They will be publicly-accessible and a valuable educational tool for high school and college students interested in the biology and genetics of plants.