NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2017: Innovation, diversification, and complexity: The impact of venom evolution on the integrated venom delivery system of snakes

这一行动为2017财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金-使用生物收藏进行研究-提供资金。该奖学金支持将以创新方式利用生物收藏的研究员的研究和培训。S研究员的研究集中在我们对现存生物多样性是如何形成的认识上的一个关键空白。生物体的复杂特征，如头部、颌骨和牙齿的结构，与新物种随着进化时间的推移而出现的速度之间存在冲突。新物种迅速出现的主要假设是关键创新的概念，这些特征为一组生物体提供了新的生态机会。然而，这些特征是复杂有机体的一部分，而其他特征可能会限制可能的进化道路。S研究员的工作将确定形态限制是否会随着北美和南美蛇毒中关键创新的出现而崩溃。这位研究员将访问几个博物馆收藏品，以量化蛇类物种头部和牙齿形状的变化，并量化这些特征的变化水平，以确定蛇毒的变化是否会导致毒液输送系统的变化和复杂性的变化，或者情况是否相反。然后，这位研究员将使用3D打印的尖牙模型来确定尖牙形状是否与毒液的有毒行为有关，这将有助于我们了解蛇咬伤在人类中的发病率。这项研究将在1)分子进化生物学和形态学不同领域的尖端研究方法方面培训研究员，2)指导4名研究生和8名本科生，他们也将学习新的方法，3)开发将科学知识带出实验室和感兴趣的公民的推广计划。这项研究还将保存数千件有价值的博物馆标本作为数字照片，并导致开发一个关于蛇毒关键创新的教学模块，供高中和大学生物课堂使用。关键特征方法侧重于孤立的少数特征，而大多数特征本质上是复杂的和相互依赖的。这种相互依赖(即表型整合)表现为一组彼此独立变化的整合表型(即模块)。一组性状的表型整合和模块化程度本身可以进化，但整合、进化创新和生物多样性之间的关系尚未确定。这项研究将检验这一假设，即快速的生物多样性与新大陆毒蛇关键特征的整合和模块化模式的改变密切相关。该研究所将实现以下目标：(1)量化多样化比率与头部和毒牙形态的表型整合强度和模式之间的关联程度；(2)确定毒液中的生化创新是否与形态分化有关；(3)使用Micro-CT扫描和3D打印的毒牙模型来检验毒牙形态和毒液成分之间的假设功能关系。这位研究员将接受比较进化分析、几何形态测量学、微型CT、3D打印以及其他年轻科学家的指导方面的培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2017, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. The Fellow?s research focuses on a key gap in our knowledge of how the diversity of extant life came to be. There is a conflict between the complex traits of organisms, such as the architecture of the head, jaws, and teeth, and the speed at which new species appear over evolutionary time. The major hypothesis for the rapid appearance of new species is the idea of key innovations, which are traits that provide novel ecological opportunity to a group of organisms. However, these traits are part of a complex organism with other traits that may constrain the evolutionary path that is possible. The Fellow?s work will determine if morphological constraints breakdown following the appearance of key innovations in the venom of North and South American snakes. The Fellow will visit several museum collections to quantify variation in head and fang shape of pitviper species, and quantify levels of variation in these traits to determine if changes in snake venom lead to changes in variation and complexity in the venom delivery system, or if the opposite is true. The Fellow will then use 3D printed fang models to determine if fang shape contributes to the toxic actions of venom, which will help us understand snakebite morbidity in humans. This research will train the Fellow in 1) cutting edge research methods in the different fields of molecular evolutionary biology and morphology, 2) mentorship of four graduate and eight undergraduate students who will also learn new methods, and 3) developing outreach programs that bring scientific knowledge out of the lab and to interested citizens. The research will also preserve thousands of valuable museum specimens as digital photographs and lead to the development of a teaching module on key innovations in snake venom for use in the high school and college biology classroom. The key trait approach focuses on a few traits in isolation, while most traits are inherently complex and interdependent. This interdependence (i.e. phenotypic integration) is manifest as sets of integrated phenotypes (i.e., modules) that vary independently of each other. The extent of phenotypic integration and modularity in a set of traits can, itself, evolve, but the relationship between integration, evolutionary innovations, and biological diversity has not been determined. This research will test the hypothesis that rapid biological diversification is intimately linked with altered patterns of integration and modularity in key traits in New World venomous snakes. The Fellow will achieve the following goals: (1) quantifying the degree of association between diversification rates and the strength and pattern of phenotypic integration in head and fang morphology, (2) determining whether biochemical innovations in the venom are linked to morphological divergence, and (3) using micro-CT scans and 3D printed fang models to test for the hypothesized functional relationship between fang morphology and venom composition. The Fellow will be trained in comparative evolutionary analyses, geometric morphometrics, micro-CT, 3D printing, and mentoring of other young scientists.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.