NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2017: Incidence and Consequences of Prokaryotic Polyploidy

这是美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金，隶属于“扩大生物学中代表性不足群体的参与”项目。这位名叫克里斯汀·a·摩尔（Kristin A. Moore）的研究员正在进行研究并接受培训，以增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。他的导师是科罗拉多大学的Jeffrey C. Cameron。这位研究员的研究旨在增进我们对有关生命的一个基本问题的理解，即具有不同数量DNA的细胞如何确保其后代获得正确数量的DNA？基因遗传的控制，即DNA的忠实复制和分裂，是所有生物体的基本过程。改变细胞DNA含量的破坏会导致异常发育和疾病。例如，人类多了一个21号染色体就会导致唐氏综合症。历史上，人们一直认为细菌含有单个圆形染色体。然而，最近的研究表明，许多细菌物种含有多条染色体，并且在一个群体中的单个细胞之间拷贝的数量甚至可能不同。此外，细菌中可变DNA含量的后果尚不清楚，尽管在医学上、生态学上和工业上都很重要的细菌都被证明具有多个染色体拷贝。这位研究员的研究旨在加强我们对细菌中染色体数目变异的程度、原因和意义的理解。本研究旨在确定调节基因组拷贝数的分子机制以及多倍体（多条相同染色体）在蓝藻系统发育多样性亚群中的生理和进化后果。蓝藻是一个由光合微生物组成的门，在许多生物地球化学循环中起着关键作用，可以是单倍体（每个细胞有一个染色体拷贝）或多倍体（每个细胞有2-20个拷贝）。染色体数目的自然变异，完全测序的基因组，遗传上可处理的模式物种，以及广泛的合成生物学工具包使蓝藻成为研究细菌多倍体的原因和后果的理想系统。在这个多学科项目的过程中，研究员将获得高级显微镜、计算生物学、合成生物学、生态学和数学建模方面的经验。该研究员还将获得指导参与研究的代表性不足群体的学生的经验。此外，一套独特的教学模块将根据研究员的研究创建，这将为教育工作者提供现实世界的项目和数据，他们可以将其纳入自己的课堂。

This is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, under the program Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellow, Kristin A. Moore, is conducting research and receiving training that is increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The fellow is being mentored by Jeffrey C. Cameron at the University of Colorado. The fellow's research aims to increase our understanding of a fundamental question regarding life, namely, how do cells with varying amounts of DNA ensure that their descendants receive the correct amount of DNA? Control of genetic inheritance, the faithful copying and division of DNA, is an essential process for all living organisms. Disruptions that alter cell DNA content can result in abnormal development and disease. For example, in humans one additional copy of chromosome 21 results in Down syndrome. Historically, it has been assumed that bacteria contain a single circular chromosome. However, recent studies indicate that many bacterial species contain multiple chromosomes, and that the number of copies can even vary between individual cells in a population. Furthermore, the consequences of variable DNA content in bacteria are unknown, even though bacteria that are important medically, ecologically, and industrially, have all been shown to have multiple chromosome copies. The fellow's research aims to bolster our understanding of the extent, causes, and significance of chromosome number variation in bacteria. This research aims to identify the molecular mechanisms that regulate genome copy number as well as the physiological and evolutionary consequences of polyploidy (multiple identical chromosomes) in a phylogenetically diverse subset of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria, a phylum comprised of photosynthetic microbes that play critical roles in many biogeochemical cycles, can be either monoploid (one copy of chromosomes per cell) or polyploid (2-20 copies per cell). The natural variation in chromosome number, fully sequenced genomes, genetically tractable model species, and an extensive synthetic biology toolkit make cyanobacteria an ideal system to study the causes and consequences of polyploidy in bacteria. Over the course of this multidisciplinary project, the fellow will gain experience in advanced microscopy, computational biology, synthetic biology, ecology, and mathematical modeling. The fellow will also gain experience mentoring students from under-represented groups that will be involved in the research. Additionally, a unique set of teaching modules will be created based on the fellow's studies that will provide educators with real-world projects and data that they can incorporate into their own classrooms.