Physiological Genomics of Seasonal Plasticity

发育可塑性是生物体响应环境条件而改变身体和/或行为特征的能力。可塑性是大多数生物体使用的基本能力，因为它允许个体对环境变化做出反应。虽然数十年的实验工作已经导致对胚胎发育和成人中可塑性的许多潜在机制有了很好的理解，但对潜在的遗传机制的理解还不太清楚。更不清楚的是，这些塑料反应过程如何在多代人中遗传适应。这个项目将开始，以填补这一空白，我们的知识，利用七叶树蝴蝶实验系统的优势：自然，遗传的地理变异的可塑性加上实验室操作。该项目的目标是确定基因表达如何改变固定（非塑料）与季节性塑料性状的性状，并确定基因负责可塑性在不同人群中的自然变异。这项研究将代表联合收割机的第一个努力，所有这些机制，以产生一个综合的肖像季节可塑性。这笔资金也将有助于培养本科生和研究生，并帮助开发昆虫基因组学资源。该项目的目的是研究七叶树蝴蝶Junonia coenia反应规范变异的遗传基础。季节性翅膀颜色可塑性的地理变化，加上通过人工选择操纵反应规范的能力，使这种蝴蝶成为研究环境反应遗传基础的有用模型。里德将整合生理，发育和遗传作图方法，以解决长期存在的问题，关于可塑性的遗传基础，包括：（1）什么是可塑性的区域变化的生理和转录基础？(2)可塑性自然变异的遗传基础是什么？(3)在不同的地方适应人群中，哪些与可塑性相关的基因组区域受到了选择？

Developmental plasticity is the ability of an organism to alter physical and/or behavioral traits in response to environmental conditions. The capacity for plasticity is a fundamental ability that most organisms use, as it allows for individuals to respond to environmental variation. While decades of experimental work have led to a well-developed understanding of many the mechanisms underlying plasticity during embryonic development and in the adult, the underlying genetic mechanisms are less well understood. Even more poorly understood is how these plastic response processes adapt genetically over multiple generations. This project will begin to fill this gap in our knowledge by leveraging the advantages of the buckeye butterfly experimental system: natural, heritable geographic variation in plasticity coupled with a laboratory manipulation. The goals of this project are to define how gene expression changes for traits that are fixed (not plastic) versus seasonally plastic traits, and to identify genes responsible for natural variation of plasticity in different populations. This study would represent one of the first efforts to combine all these mechanisms to produce an integrated portrait of seasonal plasticity. This funding will also contribute to the training of undergraduate and graduate students and help develop resources in insect genomics.The aim of this project is to study the genetic basis of reaction norm variation in the buckeye butterfly Junonia coenia. Geographic variation in seasonal wing color plasticity, coupled with the ability to manipulate reaction norms via artificial selection, makes this butterfly a useful model to study the genetic basis of environmental response. Reed will integrate across physiological, developmental, and genetic mapping approaches to address long-standing questions regarding the genetic basis of plasticity including: (1) What is the physiological and transcriptional basis of regional variation in plasticity? (2) What is the genetic basis of natural variation in plasticity? (3) What plasticity-associated genomic regions have been under selection in different locally adapted populations?