EAPSI: Finding Evolutionary Links and Genes in Adaptive Radiations of Gobies by Targeted Gene Capture

虾虎鱼包括一个非常大的，复杂的鱼类群体，几乎在所有的水生生态系统中发现。这一组中的物种可以作为生态和进化专门化的模型，使它们能够辐射到许多不同的栖息地。虾虎鱼的关系将使用一种新的遗传技术进行检查，该技术还将揭示使这些物种适应环境的基因。此外，它还将促进对生物体如何随着时间的推移而变化并辐射以填补自然界中的新角色的理解。这项研究将与开发原始技术的Chenhong Li博士在上海海洋大学的实验室合作进行。李博士是系统学领域的领先研究者，为该领域开发了许多遗传和统计工具。他的实验室可以使用该项目中基因捕获所需的所有设备和技术。该项目将使用一种新的基因捕获方法来研究Gobiidae中Gobies的深层进化，以确定广泛的分类群中蛋白质编码基因的定向选择信号。联合收割机的能力相结合的基因座的选择与解决困难的关系，通过基因捕获提供了前所未有的机会，增加科学界？对适应性辐射和物种形成的一般理解。该奖项资助的研究将通过使用大量的蛋白质编码标记物创建高分辨率的虾虎鱼科基因组学来实现这一目标，这些标记物是通过目标富集基因捕获以及广泛的分类单元采样获得的。该奖项是东亚和太平洋暑期研究所计划下的一个奖项，支持美国研究生的暑期研究，由美国国家科学基金会和台湾科技部共同资助。

Gobies comprise a very large, complex group of fishes found in nearly all aquatic ecosystems. Species in this group can serve as models for ecological and evolutionary specializations that have allowed them to radiate into many different habitats. The relationships of gobies will be examined using a new genetic technique that will also reveal the genes that enable adaptations of these species to their environments. Additionally, it will advance understanding of how organisms can change over time and radiate to fill new roles in nature. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Chenhong Li, who developed the original technique, at his laboratory in Shanghai Ocean University. Dr. Li is a leading researcher in systematics who has developed many genetic and statistical tools for the field. His laboratory has access to all equipment and technology needed for gene-capture in this project. This project will investigate the deep phylogeny of gobies within the Gobiidae using a new gene-capture method to identify signals of directional selection in protein-coding genes across a broad suite of taxa. The ability to combine the identification of loci under selection with the resolution of difficult relationships via gene capture offers unprecedented opportunity to increase the scientific community?s understanding of adaptive radiations and speciation in general. The research funded by this award will accomplish this by creating a high-resolution phylogeny of the Gobiidae using a large number of protein-coding markers obtained by target-enrichment gene capture coupled with broad taxon sampling. This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.