CAREER: The genetics underlying adaptive diversification of mimicry patterns in bumble bees

职业：大黄蜂拟态模式适应性多样化的遗传学基础

• 批准号: 1453473
• 负责人: Heather Hines
• 金额: $ 81.7万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-03-01 至 2021-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1453473&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; genetics; underlying; adaptive; diversification

New advances in genomics allow for the discovery of the genes responsible for specific traits of organisms and for complex patterns of trait variation that have evolved in species across their geographic range. To better understand the evolutionary mechanisms that determine trait variation and that promote rapid adaptation to environmental change, studies are needed that can link traits to the genes that encode them, especially in species that show extraordinary trait variation. Bumble bees (Bombus) are especially suited for such research: the 250 species worldwide have evolved to exhibit 600 color patterns, in which similar color patterns evolve in different species when they live in the same geographical location. This project will explore how these different color patterns form in Bumble Bee species across North America by identifying the pigments that are responsible for color patterns and then identifying the genes responsible for those pigments and the observed geographic patterns of color variation. This research will provide general insights into how color variation arises in nature, and will also help to address a long standing question in evolutionary biology regarding the repeatability of evolution. Are the same genes in different species responsible for the same color patterns or are different genes able to produce the same color patterns? This research will directly address this question and in answering it help us understand whether evolution is truly repeatable or whether it just looks repeatable and that there are many evolutionary paths to get to the same outcome. This CAREER project builds foundational knowledge on the genetic and evolutionary processes enabling the mimetic radiation of bumble bees. The project will address the mimetic process by characterizing the geographic distribution of color patterns in North America bumble bees and how they are impacted by climate. It will reveal how these bees are pigmented and the factors that influence their coloration, providing a foundation for further genetic work. Pigment discovery will extend to a diversity of insects through undergraduate research and classroom modules on insect pigment chemistry. As a primary aim, gene mapping and gene expression approaches will be used to identify genes driving red/black and yellow/black bumble bee color variation. Black and yellow pattern morphs of the subgenus Bombus will demonstrate how adaptive gene variants are transferred across species, populations, and sexes. The discovery of the genes behind black and red mimetic convergence in western U.S. bumble bees will inform on the genetic complexity underlying bumble bee mimicry. Identifying these genes will enable a broader comparative approach to examine how adaptive genes have been targeted and transferred across this replicate-rich radiation.

基因组学的新进展允许发现负责生物体特定特征的基因，以及在不同地理范围的物种中进化出的复杂的特征变异模式。为了更好地了解决定性状变异和促进快速适应环境变化的进化机制，需要进行研究，将性状与编码它们的基因联系起来，特别是在表现出异常性状变异的物种中。熊蜂(Bombus)特别适合于这样的研究：全球250种蜜蜂已经进化出600种颜色图案，当它们生活在相同的地理位置时，不同的物种会进化出相似的颜色图案。该项目将探索这些不同的颜色模式是如何在北美各地的大黄蜂物种中形成的，方法是识别导致颜色模式的色素，然后确定导致这些色素的基因和观察到的颜色变化的地理模式。这项研究将提供对颜色变化如何在自然界中产生的一般见解，并将有助于解决进化生物学中关于进化的重复性的一个长期存在的问题。是不同物种中的相同基因决定了相同的颜色图案，还是不同的基因能够产生相同的颜色图案？这项研究将直接解决这个问题，并在回答这个问题时帮助我们理解进化是否真的是可重复的，或者它是否只是看起来可重复，以及有许多进化途径可以达到同样的结果。这个职业项目建立了关于遗传和进化过程的基础知识，使大黄蜂的模拟辐射成为可能。该项目将通过描述北美大黄蜂颜色模式的地理分布以及它们如何受到气候的影响来解决模仿过程。它将揭示这些蜜蜂是如何着色的，以及影响它们着色的因素，为进一步的基因工作提供基础。通过昆虫色素化学的本科生研究和课堂模块，色素发现将扩展到各种昆虫。作为一个主要目标，基因作图和基因表达方法将被用来识别驱动红/黑和黄/黑熊蜂颜色变异的基因。Bombus亚属的黑色和黄色图案形态将展示适应性基因变异如何跨物种、种群和性别转移。美国西部大黄蜂黑色和红色模仿趋同背后的基因的发现，将揭示大黄蜂模仿背后的遗传复杂性。识别这些基因将使更广泛的比较方法能够检查适应基因是如何被定位并在这种复制丰富的辐射中转移的。