Origin, diversification, and integration of nutrition-dependent development in horned beetles

通过遗传输入和环境条件之间的相互作用，生物体及其部分的形式和功能在发育过程中显现出来。形式和功能的变化，无论是在发展过程中还是在进化过程中，都必须通过这些相互作用的变化而产生。这项研究试图确定和描述哪些基因和发育过程(A)能够区分男性和女性，以及(B)促进高营养和低营养条件下的发育。最后(C)，它调查了性别发育和营养发育之间相互作用的变化如何使男性和女性的相同特征对营养表现出不同的反应。这些目标是通过推进对一类特定昆虫的研究来实现的，这类昆虫以其发育和进化如何受到性别和环境差异的影响而闻名：角甲虫。角甲虫物种在雌雄二态的程度(从没有到极端)以及由营养引起的差异(从没有到逐渐到离散的差异，类似于蚂蚁和蜜蜂的种姓差异)方面差异很大。最重要的是，角甲虫很容易圈养，并易于进行实验分析，包括基因操作和全基因组表达研究。这项研究使用这些方法来研究性别和营养依赖的生长和分化的调节和进化。通过这样做，它解决了生物学中一个基本的、长期存在的、基本上尚未解决的问题：遗传、发育和环境机制如何相互作用，以塑造复杂特征的形成、整合和多样化？这项研究与几个教育和推广努力密切相关。(1)利用与当地儿童博物馆的合作，这项研究将在3年的时间里帮助向大约200名当地和地区的K-12教师提供昆虫生物学方面的培训和教育资源。(2)这项研究将帮助培训至少8名青年科学家进行密集的跨学科研究。(3)最后，它将通过帮助招聘8名高中教师和8名少数民族高中学生进行暑期研究沉浸，并向他们介绍遗传学、发育和进化方面的研究，促进教育外展。

The forms and functions of organisms and their parts emerge in development through the interactions between genetic inputs and environmental conditions. Changes in form and function, whether during development or evolution, must arise through changes in these interactions. This research seeks to identify and characterize which genes and developmental processes that (a) enable the differentiation of males and females, and (b) facilitate development in high and low nutritional conditions. Lastly (c), it investigates how changes in the interactions between gender- and nutrition-specific development allow the same traits in males and females to exhibit different responses to nutrition. These objectives are addressed by advancing the study of a specific group of insects famous for how their development and evolution have been shaped by gender- and environment-specific differentiation: horned beetles. Horned beetle species differ greatly in the extent of male-female dimorphism (ranging from none to extreme) as well as nutrition-induced differences (ranging from none to gradual to discrete, akin to caste differences in ants and bees). Most importantly, horned beetles are easily kept in captivity and amenable to experimental analysis, including genetic manipulations and genome-wide expression studies. This research uses these approaches to investigate regulation and evolution of gender- and nutrition-dependent growth and differentiation. In so doing it addresses a fundamental, long-standing, and largely unresolved question in biology: how do genetic, developmental, and environmental mechanisms interact to shape the formation, integration, and diversification of complex traits?This research interfaces tightly with several educational and outreach efforts. (1) Using a collaboration with a local children's museum this research will help provide training and educational resources in insect biology to approximately 200 local and regional K-12 teachers over the course of 3 years. (2) This research will help train at least 8 young scientists in intensive interdisciplinary research. (3) Lastly, it will facilitate educational outreach by helping recruit 8 high school teachers and 8 minority high school students for summer research immersion and introduce them to research in genetics, development, and evolution.