CAREER: The physiology and genetics of adaptation in a complex environment

生物体具有对环境作出生理反应的非凡能力，即使在压力时期也能维持生存和健康。本研究计划探讨模式遗传生物黑腹果蝇对复杂环境的生理反应。黑腹龙最近将其活动范围从热带非洲扩展到高纬度地区，那里的热环境更加多变。与此同时，黑腹霉在其发酵果实生境中进化出了对乙醇和醋酸的耐受性。这种果蝇的自然史允许研究生物体如何可能对复杂和日益变化的气候做出反应。特别是，这项研究将测试关于细胞膜和新陈代谢的变化如何在热变量和富含酒精的生态位中维持健康，表现和健身的假设。这些实验研究了生物在生命周期内为应对环境而发生的变化——可塑性生理——以及通过自然选择生理适应过程进化而使生物适应环境的变化。这项研究的目的是确定多种基因之间的相互作用，这些基因是对复杂环境的可塑性和适应性反应的基础。该研究将进一步加深我们在进化生物学前沿研讨会（NSF 2005）确定的领域的知识，提供对环境耐受性的遗传、细胞和生理机制的见解，并开发将生理性状与多基因复杂遗传变异联系起来的新方法。将利用DRYAD数据库（http://datadryad.org/）公开提供数据，并在出版后应要求提供遗传系。被认为对许多实验室有用的基因线将被放置在布卢明顿果蝇库存中心（http://flystocks.bio.indiana.edu/）.The)，教育目标借鉴了PI整合她的研究和教学的历史。目标1为大学水平的生物学课程开发一个新的课程，使用案例研究来教授信息素养、写作、定量思维和数据表示等技能。课程将存储在美国国家科学基金会国家案例研究教学中心（NCCST; http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/）的公开数据库中。目标2将创建一个教育多媒体展示，以促进公众在生命科学方面的素养。目标3为学生提出了一个整合遗传学、进化、细胞和有机体生理学的研究训练计划，包括少数民族和女学生。

Organisms have a remarkable capacity to respond physiologically to their environment to maintain survival and health even in times of stress. This research program investigates the physiological responses of the model genetic organism Drosophila melanogaster to a complex environment. D. melanogaster recently expanded its range out of tropical Africa and into higher latitudes with more variable thermal environments. At the same time, D. melanogaster evolved a remarkable tolerance of ethanol and acetic acid in its fermenting fruit habitat. The natural history of this fruit fly allows for an investigation of how organisms are likely to respond to a complex and increasingly variable climate. In particular, this research will test hypotheses about how changes in cell membranes and metabolism maintain health, performance and fitness in a thermally-variable and alcohol-rich niche. The experiments investigate changes that occur within the lifespan of organisms to deal with the environment -- plastic physiologies -- and changes that have evolved to fit organisms to their environment via the process of natural selection physiological adaptations. The goal of this research is to identify the interactions among multiple genes that underlie these plastic and adaptive responses to a complex environment.The proposed research will further our knowledge in areas identified by the Frontiers in Evolutionary Biology workshop (NSF 2005), provide insight on genetic, cellular and physiological mechanisms of environmental tolerance, and develop new methods for associating physiological traits with complex genetic variation at multiple genes. Data will be made publicly available using the DRYAD database (http://datadryad.org/), and genetic lines will be made available upon request after publication. Genetic lines judged to be of use for many labs will be placed in the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (http://flystocks.bio.indiana.edu/).The educational objectives draw on the PI's history of integrating her research and teaching. Objective 1 develops a novel curriculum for college-level biology classes that uses case studies to teach skills in information literacy, writing, quantitative thinking, and data representation. Curricula will be deposited in the publicly available database of the NSF National Center for Case Study Teaching (NCCST; http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/). Objective 2 will create an educational multimedia display to promote public literacy in the life sciences. Objective 3 advances a research training program for students that integrates genetics, evolution, and cellular and organismal physiology, and includes minority and female students.