Collaborative Proposal: Genomics across the speciation continuum in Heliconius butterflies

合作提案：Heliconius 蝴蝶物种形成连续体的基因组学

• 批准号: 1257689
• 负责人: William McMillan
• 金额: $ 13.96万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-03-01 至 2016-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1257689&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Proposal; Genomics; across; speciation

Discovering how genomes change as populations diverge is essential to understanding how species arise. When populations begin to diverge most of their genomes will often remain very similar, except for those regions that are responsible for adaptive differences between the populations. As populations become increasingly isolated from each other during the speciation process, their genomes also become increasingly different from each other, particularly at regions that underlie adaptive or reproductive differences between the populations. Yet researchers know little about how, why, and where differences actually accumulate across the genome. This collaborative project will leverage recent advances in genome sequencing technology and the frequent hybridization between divergent races and species of Heliconius butterflies to assemble a moving picture of how genomes change over time and test specific hypotheses about what causes genomes to change in certain ways.This project will provide one of the most comprehensive examinations of the genomic consequences of speciation. With this knowledge, researchers will begin to understand the type of genetic changes that lead to the origin of new species. The use of cutting edge genome sequencing technology, along with the expertise of the collaborative research team, will lead to the development of new analytical tools and methods that will be broadly useful to scientific community. Training and outreach workshops will provide unique opportunities for students, teachers, and researchers to gain hands-on experience in how genomics can be used to study the amazing diversity found in nature.

发现基因组如何随着种群的分化而变化，对于理解物种是如何产生的至关重要。当种群开始分化时，它们的大部分基因组通常会保持非常相似，除了那些负责种群之间适应性差异的区域。随着种群在物种形成过程中变得越来越孤立，它们的基因组也变得越来越不同，特别是在种群之间的适应性或生殖差异的基础区域。然而，研究人员对基因组中的差异如何、为什么以及在哪里积累知之甚少。该合作项目将利用基因组测序技术的最新进展以及不同种族和物种之间的频繁杂交，来组装基因组如何随时间变化的动态图像，并测试关于导致基因组以某些方式变化的具体假设。该项目将提供物种形成的基因组后果的最全面的检查之一。有了这些知识，研究人员将开始了解导致新物种起源的遗传变化类型。尖端基因组测序技术的使用，沿着合作研究小组的专业知识，将导致新的分析工具和方法的发展，将广泛适用于科学界。培训和推广研讨会将为学生，教师和研究人员提供独特的机会，以获得基因组学如何用于研究自然界中发现的惊人多样性的实践经验。