RUI: Genetic Architecture of Juvenile Hormone Sensitivity

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Plasticity is an organism's ability to adjust to environmental conditions. Many insects have an extreme version of plasticity called polyphenism, in which they exhibit new body parts in response to environmental stressors such as a lack of food or increased population density. These alternative morphologies are often controlled by juvenile hormone (JH). Despite acting across the entire organism, only certain tissues respond to changes in JH. This project will elucidate the genetic basis of JH sensitivity in Drosophila melanogaster and use this as a model for the developmental control of polyphenisms in other insects. This project will be implemented as a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) for third year students at Baruch College, CUNY, a Primarily Undergraduate Institution in New York City. The major impact of this project is increased undergraduate participation in research, particularly students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Course-based research projects increase the opportunity for students at institutions with small numbers of available individual mentorships. By offering research projects as part of a course, they are made available to students who may not be aware of either the opportunities on campus or the benefits of participation, may not otherwise be chosen for an individual mentorship, and may not have the financial independence to take time away from paying jobs to participate in research. This project will result in an increase in Baruch College graduates joining the STEM workforce.The expected significance of the proposed project is three-fold: First, the range of natural variation in hormone sensitivity across tissues will be determined by measuring the degree of sensitivity in all of the genotyped flies in the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP). This will bolster understanding of developmental plasticity within a single species. Second, the genetic architecture of hormone sensitivity within a population will be determined by performing a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) on the variation data. This will elucidate the genomic distribution of genes involved in hormonal response. Lastly, new genetic targets of the JH pathway will be discovered, greatly increasing the number of known functional targets in this critical pathway. This discovery will provide a hierarchy of JH targets from the hormone receptor level to the downstream effector genes, significantly advancing the field of JH biology. These target genes will then be used to study JH at different developmental time points and across hexapods.