Genomic conflict and placentation in Poeciliid fishes

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。基因组内冲突被认为是导致亲本起源对哺乳动物和种子植物基因表达影响的主要选择力量。冲突实体的分子相互作用的核心基因显示出异常快速的进化速度。活体动物的母胎关系被比作宿主与寄生虫的相互作用，因为胎儿通常与母亲只有一半的关系。因此，父系基因组处于一个独特的位置，可以通过驱动母胎界面的适应性变化来影响母体供给水平。在许多新近分化的谱系中，甲壳类鱼类的胎盘是独立进化的。对胎盘适应过程中伴随的遗传变化进行大规模的研究，将为研究发育过程中潜在的突变机制提供独特的见解。pi将采用转化分子遗传学方法来鉴定经历了从卵黄提供到母体提供胚胎发生的适应性变化的基因。通过使用下一代测序技术，也被称为大规模并行测序，pi将产生具有巨大不同生殖策略的物种的完整基因活性信息，以努力确定基因组冲突对参与胎儿生长调节的基因的影响。除了这项工作将为水蛭科提供基因组学资源外，拟议的实验还为来自不同背景的博士后、研究生、本科生和高中生提供教育和培训机会。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Intragenomic conflict is thought to be the major selective force leading to parent-of-origin influences on gene expression in mammals and seed-bearing plants. Genes central to the molecular interaction of conflicting entities show extraordinarily rapid rates of evolution. The maternal/fetal relationship in livebearing animals has been likened to a host/parasite interaction since the fetus is generally only half related to the mother. The paternal genome, therefore, is in a unique position to influence the level of maternal provisioning by driving adaptive change at the maternal/fetal interface. Placentation in poeciliid fishes has evolved independently in numerous recently diverged lineages. Broad scale examination of the genetic changes accompanying the adaptation to placentation will provide unique insights into the mutational mechanisms underlying the evolution of a developmental program. The PIs will employ transformative molecular genetics approaches to identify genes that have undergone adaptive changes leading from yolk-provisioned to maternal provisioned embryogenesis. By using next generation sequencing technology, otherwise known as massively parallel sequencing, the PIs will produce full gene activity information for species with vastly different reproductive strategies in an effort to identify the consequences of genomic conflict on genes involved in fetal growth regulation. In addition to the genomics resources this work will provide for the Poeciliidae, the proposed experiments offer educational and training opportunities for post-doctoral, post-graduate, undergraduate and high school students from diverse backgrounds.