NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2017: Morphological Variation and Molecular Origination of Chiropteran Wing Membranes

这是一个NSF博士后研究奖学金在生物学，根据程序研究使用生物收集。该研究员，丹尼尔城市，正在进行研究和接受培训，以创新的方式利用生物收藏品，并正在由两个主办机构的两名赞助科学家指导：南希西蒙斯（美国自然历史博物馆）和凯伦西尔斯（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）。该项目旨在了解新特征的起源和多样性，特别是蝙蝠翅膀。蝙蝠的翅膜是一种新的结构，与其他哺乳动物的特征没有已知的联系。此外，翅膀膜的重要性不能被夸大，因为它们使蝙蝠以非凡的方式多样化-蝙蝠占所有哺乳动物物种的20%以上。在进行这项研究的同时，该研究员正在培训和指导来自传统上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的几名本科生，同时以创新的方式利用博物馆收藏的丰富知识。此外，该研究员正在扩大公众参与，在美国自然历史博物馆开展动手学习活动，每年有可能接触500多万儿童和成人。该研究员的研究包括三个主要目标。目的1的特点不同的蝙蝠物种之间的翅膀形式。这一目标是通过对美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）收藏的成年标本进行翅膀形状分析来实现的，该博物馆收藏了60，000多只蝙蝠。在目标2中，研究员正在确定在发育过程中翅膀膜何时开始形成，以及它们来自什么组织来源。这位研究员还在确定物种之间翅膀形状的差异开始出现的时间点。目标2标本是从AMNH流体集合和新捕获的蝙蝠（然后将添加到AMNH集合）的组合获得的。最后，目标3旨在建立负责翅膜发育的细胞和分子机制，以及这些机制在不同物种之间的差异。这一目标使用发育中的胚胎来可视化细胞过程、基因表达和蛋白质定位。确定驱动蝙蝠翅膀膜的起源和多样化的机制将促进我们对蝙蝠发育和进化的理解，更普遍的是，进化创新和适应性辐射的发展驱动因素。在这个过程中，该研究员还开展了宣传活动，以帮助公众了解蝙蝠及其惊人的新颖翅膀结构的重要性。

This is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, under the program Research Using Biological Collections. The fellow, Daniel Urban, is conducting research and receiving training that utilizes biological collections in innovative ways, and is being mentored by two sponsoring scientists at two host institutions: Nancy Simmons (American Museum of Natural History) and Karen Sears (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). The project aims to understand the origination and diversification of novel traits, specifically bat wings. The wing membranes of bats are novel structures with no known associations to features in any other mammals. Additionally, the importance of the wing membranes cannot be overstated as they have allowed bats to diversify in an extraordinary manner - bats account for over 20% of all mammalian species. While conducting this research, the fellow is training and mentoring several undergraduates from groups traditionally underrepresented in science, while utilizing the wealth of knowledge in museum collections in innovative ways. Furthermore, the fellow is broadening public engagement by generating hands-on learning activities at the American Museum of Natural History, which have the potential to reach over 5 million children and adults annually. The fellow's research consists of three primary aims. Aim 1 characterizes varying wing forms among diverse bat species. This aim is being achieved by conducting wing shape analysis on adult specimens housed at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), which contains over 60,000 bats in its collection. In Aim 2 the fellow is identifying when during development the wing membranes begin to form, and from what tissue sources they originate. The fellow is also determining at what point differences in the wing forms begin to emerge among species. Aim 2 specimens are being acquired from a combination of AMNH fluid collections and newly captured bats (which will then be added to the AMNH collections). Finally, Aim 3 seeks to establish the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the development of the wing membranes, and how these mechanisms diverge among various species. This aim uses developing embryos to visualize cellular processes, gene expression, and protein localization. Identifying the mechanisms driving the origination and diversification of bat wing membranes will advance our understanding of bat development and evolution and, more generally, the developmental drivers of evolutionary innovations and adaptive radiations. In the process, the fellow is also generating outreach activities to assist in educating the public about the importance of bats and their amazing novel wing structures.