NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology for FY 2009

2009 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金

• 批准号: 0905698
• 负责人: James Walters
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Walters James R
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0905698&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Research; Fellowships; Biology

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology 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 entitled "Comparative genomic analysis of sex-chromosome and sex-biased genes in Heliconius butterflies" for James Walters. The host institution for this research is the University of Cambridge, and the sponsoring scientist is Chris Jiggins. The third year will be spent at Stanford University in the laboratory of Hunter Fraser.Several theoretical models exist that predict distinct evolutionary dynamics for genes differentially affiliated with males than females, either via linkage on sex chromosomes or sex-specific function. This research synthesizes genomic data concerning chromosomal linkage, gene expression, and sequence divergence to examine the molecular evolutionary effects of sex-linkage and sex-biased gene expression in Heliconius butteflies. This research provides a novel test of these theories in butterflies, where females have different sex chromosomes (XY; heterogametic) and males have homologous sex chromosomes (XX, homogametic). This work thus provides an important independent contrast to previous studies conducted in male heterogametic groups of organisms such as flies and mammals, and another female heterogametic group (birds).Training goals include computational and analytical skills associated with the analysis of genomic-scale data. Specifically, the fellowship allows the Fellow to gain 1) exposure to genomic methods and data structure, 2) familiarity with software packages for analyzing biological data, and 3) experience with programming skills, statistical methods and theory. The broader impacts of this work include development of Heliconius butterflies as a genomic model system, promoting international collaborations between the United States and the United Kingdom, and collaborating with commercial butterfly exhibits to use Heliconius butterflies as a focus for public science education and outreach.

该行动资助了2009财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，并根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）提供资金。该研究金支持詹姆斯·沃尔特斯的一项研究和培训计划，题为“Heliconius蝴蝶性别染色体和性别偏见基因的比较基因组分析”。这项研究的主办机构是剑桥大学，赞助科学家是克里斯·吉金斯。第三年将在斯坦福大学的亨特·弗雷泽实验室度过。存在几个理论模型，预测不同的进化动力学基因与男性比女性，无论是通过性染色体上的连锁或性别特异性功能。本研究综合了染色体连锁、基因表达和序列差异的基因组数据，探讨了蝴蝶属Heliconius butteflies性别连锁和性别偏向基因表达的分子进化效应。这项研究提供了一个新的测试这些理论在蝴蝶，其中女性有不同的性染色体（XY;异配子）和男性有同源性染色体（XX，同配子）。因此，这项工作提供了一个重要的独立的对比，以前的研究中进行的男性异配子组的生物体，如苍蝇和哺乳动物，另一个女性异配子组（鸟类）。培训目标包括计算和分析技能与基因组规模的数据分析。具体而言，该奖学金允许研究员获得1）接触基因组方法和数据结构，2）熟悉用于分析生物数据的软件包，以及3）编程技能，统计方法和理论的经验。这项工作的更广泛的影响包括开发Heliconius蝴蝶作为基因组模型系统，促进美国和英国之间的国际合作，并与商业蝴蝶展览合作，将Heliconius蝴蝶作为公共科学教育和宣传的重点。