Determinants of Hybrid Fitness and Genome Plasticity

混合适应性和基因组可塑性的决定因素

• 批准号: 1516330
• 负责人: Maitreya Dunham
• 金额: $ 68万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 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: 2015-09-15 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1516330&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Determinants; Hybrid; Fitness; Genome; Plasticity

This project will advance understanding of hybrid organisms, which combine genomes from two different species. Hybrids can demonstrate new and desirable traits, performing better in some environments than either of the parent species. Because of this so-called 'hybrid vigor,' hybrids are very important in agriculture, and hybrid yeast specifically carry out many industrially important fermentation processes. Better understanding of hybrids will allow more effective breeding and engineering of improved crops and fermentation microorganisms. Despite this importance, hybrid genomes are not well understood, so this project has the potential to have high impact. In addition to its scientific impact, the project presents numerous training opportunities. A diverse team of undergraduate researchers will perform a significant portion of the experiments, and a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student will be trained in cutting edge genomics techniques. Outreach to the public will include education on yeast biology, fermentation and genome evolution, and the project will engage hobbyist and professional brewers in yeast genetics by enlisting their help to discover new hybrid yeasts.This project will explore a number of open questions in hybrid genomics. It will discover how hybrids are able to adapt to new environments and develop new traits via three potential mechanisms: eliminating genetic conflicts, leveraging genetic variation, and taking advantage of transposon invasion. Studying these hypotheses using naturally derived hybrids can be difficult because their history of growth environments is largely unknown. This project will apply a yeast experimental evolution approach to explore and understand these questions. Hybrids will be created in the lab and evolved under new environments. By sequencing the 'evolved' genomes, new mutations will be identified that have arisen in the population and achieved high frequency. Experiments will determine the relative contribution of genome rearrangements, point mutations, and transpositions to hybrid adaptation. Comparison will then be undertaken with hybrids isolated from industrial and natural fermentations, some of which will be collected by brewers as part of this project. All together, the project will lead to better understanding of the molecular mechanisms important for hybrid vigor and adaptation.This award is supported jointly by the Genetic Mechanisms program in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and by the Environmental Sustainability program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.

该项目将促进对杂交生物的理解，这种生物将两个不同物种的基因组联合收割机结合在一起。杂交种可以表现出新的和令人满意的性状，在某些环境中表现得比亲本物种更好。由于这种所谓的“杂种优势”，杂种在农业中非常重要，杂种酵母特别是进行许多工业上重要的发酵过程。更好地了解杂交将允许更有效地育种和改良作物和发酵微生物的工程。尽管如此重要，杂交基因组还没有得到很好的理解，所以这个项目有可能产生很大的影响。除了科学影响外，该项目还提供了许多培训机会。一个由本科研究人员组成的多元化团队将进行大部分实验，一名博士后和一名研究生将接受尖端基因组学技术的培训。对公众的宣传将包括酵母生物学、发酵和基因组进化方面的教育，该项目将通过寻求业余爱好者和专业酿酒师的帮助来发现新的杂交酵母，从而使他们参与酵母遗传学。该项目将探讨杂交基因组学中的一些悬而未决的问题。它将发现杂交种如何能够通过三种潜在机制适应新环境并发展新性状：消除遗传冲突，利用遗传变异和利用转座子入侵。 使用自然衍生的杂交种来研究这些假设可能很困难，因为它们的生长环境历史在很大程度上是未知的。本计画将应用酵母实验演化的方法来探讨和了解这些问题。杂交种将在实验室中产生，并在新的环境中进化。通过对“进化”的基因组进行测序，将识别出在人群中出现并达到高频率的新突变。实验将确定基因组重排、点突变和转座对杂交适应的相对贡献。 然后将与从工业和自然发酵中分离出来的杂交种进行比较，其中一些将作为该项目的一部分由酿酒商收集。总的来说，该项目将导致更好地了解杂交活力和适应的重要分子机制。该奖项由分子和细胞生物科学部的遗传机制计划和化学，生物工程，环境和运输系统部的环境可持续性计划共同支持。