Pleiotropy and Modularity of Morphological Variation in Drosophila melanogaster

科学家可以快速获得个体的DNA序列，并在DNA中找到影响某一特征的位置。据信，许多站点会影响不止一个性状，这种现象被称为多效性。多效性网站的比例尚不清楚，部分原因是如何找到这样的网站还不清楚。这个项目调查了模型生物体的多效性模式，以确定这些影响是否通常仅限于身体的一个简单部位，或者可能对许多不同的部位产生影响。如果该团队发现DNA变化通常会影响许多特征，那么这将表明那些研究人类基因组的人将不得不研究不同的特征，以了解DNA变化如何影响健康的特定方面。这个项目对我们理解基因类型如何映射到表型上做出了基本的贡献。此外，PIS将为计算生物学的本科生提供研究机会，并将为研究界开发统计软件。为了表征多效性，科学团队将使用果蝇，因为它的生成时间快，成本低。他们将开发自动测量多个身体部位的方法，然后在一组200只完全测序的苍蝇种群中对这些部位进行表征。他们将开发统计技术，利用这些数据定量描述多效性。然后，这些数据和统计技术将被用来寻找影响身体形状的DNA位置，并确定这些影响通常仅限于身体的一个部位，还是影响到许多部位。在这个项目中开发的描述多效性的统计技术将直接适用于其他物种，包括人类。该项目还包括与挪威科学家的积极合作，包括对美国研究生和博士后研究人员的国际培训，该项目由NSF国际科学与工程办公室提供部分资金。

Scientists can rapidly obtain the DNA sequence of an individual, and find sites in the DNA that affect one trait. It is believed that many sites will affect more than one trait, a phenomenon called pleiotropy. The proportion of sites that are pleiotropic is not known, in part because how to find such sites is unclear. This project investigates the patterns of pleiotropy in a model organism to see whether those effects are typically restricted to one simple part of the body, or are likely to have effects on many different parts. If the team finds that a DNA change generally affects many traits, then this will suggest that those studying human genomes will have to look at diverse traits to understand how DNA changes affect specific aspects of heath. This project makes a fundamental contribution to our understanding of how genotypes map onto phenotypes. Additionally, the PIs will provide research opportunities for undergraduates in computational biology and will develop statistical software for the research community. To characterize pleiotropy, the scientific team will use the fruit fly because of its rapid generation time and low cost. They will develop methods to automate the measurement of multiple body parts, and then characterize these parts in a set of 200 fully sequenced fly stocks. They will develop statistical techniques to quantitatively characterize pleiotropy using these data. The data and statistical techniques will then be used to find the DNA sites that affect the shape of the body, and to determine whether those effects typically are restricted to one part of the body, or affect many parts. The statistical techniques to characterize pleiotropy developed in this project will apply directly to other species, including humans. This project also includes active collaboration with Norwegian scientists, including international training for US graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, which was partially funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.