DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The role of volatile organic compounds in antagonistic selection in the moss Ceratodon purpureus

论文研究：挥发性有机化合物在苔藓 Ceratodon purpureus 拮抗选择中的作用

• 批准号: 1701915
• 负责人: Stuart McDaniel
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701915&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; role; volatile; organic

This project will investigate how differences in natural selection on males and females effects the genetic basis of scent differences in the moss, Ceratodon purpureus. In many plants and animals, males and females exhibit many differences in form and physiology. These differences are thought to arise because qualities that are beneficial in one sex may be deleterious in the opposite sex. Although physical differences between males and females are very conspicuous, we have a poor understanding of the genetic mechanisms that generate these differences, and many of their benefits. In Ceratodon, female mosses produce scents to attract small insects that carry sperm from male plants, promoting reproduction, while male plants make few such scents. This research will test the idea that the production of these scents is costly in males, and that the genes for scent production are present but turned off in males. In addition, the project will involve mentoring both undergraduate and high school students, including individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences.The project will use quantitative genetics and transcriptomic experiments to understand the evolutionary forces shaping sexually dimorphic scent profiles. Scents are comprised of a cocktail of volatile organic compunds (VOC). Measures of VOC production in a pedigreed population is providing an estimate of the additive genetic variance and covariance for VOC production in males and females. Competitive mating trials will be used to evaluate the fitness consequences of variation in VOC production in males and females, both in the presence and absence of sperm-dispersing arthropods. RNAseq analyses in high and low VOC producing males and females will be used in conjunction with existing biochemical pathway databases to identify transcripts linked to VOC production. The transcriptomic work will lay the foundation for studying the resolution of genome-wide genetic conflict.

该项目将研究雄性和雌性自然选择的差异如何影响苔藓（Ceratodon purpureus）气味差异的遗传基础。在许多植物和动物中，雄性和雌性在形态和生理上表现出许多差异。人们认为这些差异的出现是因为对一种性别有益的品质可能对异性有害。尽管男性和女性之间的身体差异非常明显，但我们对产生这些差异的遗传机制及其许多好处知之甚少。在角齿象属中，雌性苔藓会产生气味来吸引携带雄性植物精子的小昆虫，促进繁殖，而雄性植物则很少产生这种气味。这项研究将检验以下观点：雄性产生这些气味的成本很高，并且产生气味的基因在雄性中存在但被关闭。此外，该项目还将涉及指导本科生和高中生，包括来自科学界代表性不足的群体的个人。该项目将利用定量遗传学和转录组实验来了解塑造性别二态性气味特征的进化力量。香味由挥发性有机化合物 (VOC) 的混合物组成。对纯系群体中 VOC 产生的测量提供了对男性和女性 VOC 产生的加性遗传方差和协方差的估计。竞争性交配试验将用于评估雄性和雌性在存在和不存在精子传播节肢动物的情况下 VOC 产生变化的适应性后果。对高和低 VOC 产生的男性和女性的 RNAseq 分析将与现有的生化途径数据库结合使用，以识别与 VOC 产生相关的转录本。转录组工作将为研究解决全基因组遗传冲突奠定基础。