Social interactions and molecular evolution

社会相互作用和分子进化

• 批准号: 1201671
• 负责人: Joan Strassmann
• 金额: $ 23.71万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-07-02 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1201671&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; interactions; molecular; evolution

This project will elucidate the nature and basis of social interactions in a model organism, the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. These normally single-celled amoebas come together to form a multicellular fruiting body. Most individuals in the fruiting body reproduce through formation of spores, but 20% die to form a stalk that helps disperse the spores. There is both cooperation and conflict over which cells get to become spores. This project will advance understanding of what keeps this conflict from destroying cooperation. D. discoideum is uniquely suitable as a model system to study cooperation and conflict at the molecular level. Genome sequences of many individuals will be analyzed to test the hypothesis that conflicts cause strong selection that molds the molecular variation that underlies the diversity of living species.Many molecular and genetic resources are available for D. discoideum, whose genome includes many genes similar to human genes and is small enough for whole-genome sequencing. The insights gained from this model system will help us understand cooperation and conflict in obvious social animals such as bees, wolves, and humans, and also in single-celled organisms, including many that cause disease. D. discoideum thrives in the lab and has a short generation time, creating diverse excellent opportunities for students at all levels to participate in research-based learning. This project will provide educational opportunities to high school students through direct collaboration with one high school and development of materials for use by others, to grade school teachers, and to university students through provision of web-accessible novel educational materials. Dissemination of results will include articles for the lay public and general scientific readership, as well as publications for teachers.

这个项目将阐明一种模式生物--盘状网囊阿米巴的社会相互作用的性质和基础。这些通常是单细胞的变形虫聚集在一起，形成一个多细胞的子实体。子实体中的大多数个体通过形成孢子进行繁殖，但有20%的个体死亡时形成了有助于分散孢子的柄。在哪些细胞会变成孢子的问题上，既有合作，也有冲突。这个项目将增进人们对是什么让这场冲突不会破坏合作的理解。盘藻是唯一适合在分子水平上研究合作与冲突的模式系统。许多个体的基因组序列将被分析，以检验这样一个假设，即冲突导致强大的选择，从而塑造了构成生物物种多样性的分子变异。盘状芽孢杆菌有许多分子和遗传资源，它的基因组包括许多与人类基因相似的基因，并且足够小，可以进行全基因组测序。从这个模型系统中获得的洞察力将帮助我们理解蜜蜂、狼和人类等明显的社会性动物之间的合作和冲突，以及单细胞生物体中的合作和冲突，包括许多导致疾病的生物。D.Discoideum在实验室中茁壮成长，世代时间短，为各级学生创造了参与研究性学习的各种绝佳机会。该项目将通过与一所高中直接合作并开发供其他学校使用的材料，向高中生提供教育机会，向小学教师提供教育机会，并通过提供网上可访问的新颖教育材料向大学生提供教育机会。成果的传播将包括面向普通公众和普通科学读者的文章，以及面向教师的出版物。