RCN: Enabling comparative studies of the process and products of sexual selection in a genomic context

这个研究协调网络促进了新的跨学科研究合作，这将促进我们对进化过程的基因组基础的理解，这些基因组基础在塑造生物的生态、生理、行为和多样性方面至关重要。该网络汇集了基因组方法应用的先驱、拥有长期生态和行为数据的研究人员、软件开发人员和信息管理专家，以丰富、共享和连接大规模数据集，这些数据集为解决生物特征如何进化的基本问题奠定了基础。这一努力的成果包括一个开放获取的数据仓库，一个公开可用的基因组浏览器，以及一个不同的科学家团队如何合作，将跨学科的独立研究转化为将为重大生物学问题提供答案的合成企业的模型。这个研究协调网络的设计是为了解决性选择的进化影响，从基因组水平，到生理和行为，再到生态系统，使用人造皮肤作为模型系统。这些鸟类生活在热带森林中，表现出非凡的身体和行为适应能力，很容易被研究。该网络将许多学科的研究人员联合起来，参与社区范围的努力，通过功能注释来丰富基因组资源，开发连接相关但不同种类的数据的机制，并应用这些资源来理解基因组和环境之间的复杂关系，这些关系在活的有机体中产生形式和功能。该网络通过年度会议、研讨会、工作组和实验室交流来开发共享的基因组资源、开放访问的数据库、合成论文和提案以及新的教育和研究工具。

This Research Coordination Network facilitates new interdisciplinary research collaborations that will advance our understanding of the genomic underpinnings of evolutionary processes important in shaping the ecology, physiology, behavior and diversification of organisms. The network brings together pioneers in the application of genomic approaches, researchers with long-term ecological and behavioral data, software developers and information management specialists to enrich, share, and connect large-scale data sets that provide the foundation for tackling fundamental questions of how organismal traits evolve. Products of this effort include an open-access data repository, a publically available genome browser, and a model of how diverse teams of scientists can collaborate to transform independent research across disciplines into a synthetic enterprise that will provide answers to significant biological questions. This Research Coordination Network is designed to address the evolutionary implications of sexual selection from the level of the genome, to physiology and behavior, to the ecosystem using manakins as a model system. These birds inhabit tropical forests, exhibit extraordinary physical and behavioral adaptations and are readily amenable for study. The network unites researchers across many disciplines to engage in a community-wide effort to enrich genomic resources through functional annotation, develop mechanisms to connect related but heterogeneous data, and apply these resources to understand the complex relationships between genomes and environment that produce form and function in living organisms. The network operates through annual meetings, workshops, working groups, and lab exchanges to develop shared genomic resources, an open-access data repository, synthetic papers and proposals, and new educational and research tools.