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

这是NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，根据扩大生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与计划。这个人叫克里斯汀·A。摩尔正在进行研究和接受培训，这正在增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。这位研究员的导师是杰弗里·C。科罗拉多大学的卡梅隆。该研究员的研究旨在增加我们对生命基本问题的理解，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，DNA的忠实复制和分裂，是所有生物体的一个基本过程。改变细胞DNA含量的破坏可能导致异常发育和疾病。例如，在人类中，21号染色体的一个额外拷贝导致唐氏综合症。历史上，人们一直认为细菌含有一个单一的环状染色体。然而，最近的研究表明，许多细菌物种含有多个染色体，并且拷贝数甚至可以在种群中的单个细胞之间变化。此外，细菌中可变DNA含量的后果是未知的，即使在医学上，生态学上和工业上重要的细菌都被证明具有多个染色体拷贝。该研究员的研究旨在加强我们对细菌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，以及在一个遗传多样的蓝藻亚群中多倍体（多个相同的染色体）的生理和进化后果。蓝细菌是由光合微生物组成的一门，在许多地球化学循环中发挥关键作用，可以是单倍体（每个细胞一个染色体拷贝）或多倍体（每个细胞2-20个染色体拷贝）。 染色体数目的自然变异，完全测序的基因组，遗传上易于处理的模式物种，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，研究员将获得先进的显微镜，计算生物学，合成生物学，生态学和数学建模的经验。该研究员还将获得指导来自参与研究的代表性不足群体的学生的经验。此外，还将根据研究员的研究创建一套独特的教学模块，为教育工作者提供真实世界的项目和数据，他们可以将这些项目和数据纳入自己的课堂。

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.