NSF Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship for FY 2009

本行动根据2009年美国复苏与再投资法案（公法111-5）资助国家科学基金会2009年度少数民族博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金支持奖学金获得者在主办实验室的研究和培训计划，该奖学金获得者还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。Hugo E. Cuevas奖学金的研究和培训计划的标题是“近等基因系的发展和甘蓝重复基因组区域的命运”。这项研究的主办机构是乔治亚-雅典大学的植物基因组测绘实验室，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方式遗传的，这表明许多基因参与了这些特征。然而，只有少数这样的基因已被确定，因此，了解这种“数量性状”的遗传是不完整的。近等基因系，即仅由一个明确的染色体区域不同的植物，使人们能够测量这样一个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系，这些系共同覆盖了甘蓝的整个基因组。由于其形态变异范围广泛（从卷心菜到菜花），该物种是研究数量性状的杰出模型；以及它复杂的基因组，一些染色体区域复制，另一些染色体区域复制三倍。培训目标包括提高以前的遗传知识和技能以及学习新的分子技术。更广泛的影响包括增加西班牙裔生物科学研究生的数量，以及科学和教育方面的影响。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。它们将对公众开放，是对植物生物学和遗传学感兴趣的高中生和大学生的宝贵教育工具。

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.