Collaborative Research: Phylogenetics, hybridization and speciation in Habronattus jumping spiders (Saliticidae)

生物学研究的主要目标之一是了解产生不同物种的过程。最近，生物学家提出，不同物种之间基因和性状的共享（杂交）可能起着重要但被忽视的作用。如果这是真的，这不仅会质疑我们对物种形成的理解，而且会改变我们评估物种之间关系的方式。在这个项目中，来自圣地亚哥州立大学和加州大学伯克利分校的研究人员将把系统发育和行为的研究联系起来，以了解杂交在北美跳蛛（Habronattus）大属进化中的作用。该团队将开发基因组资源，以重建物种之间的进化关系，并对杂交在驱动生物多样性模式中的存在进行统计测试。此外，由于杂交只发生在不同物种的个体相互交配时，研究小组将研究控制不同物种之间基因和特征交换的交配行为，从而深入了解驱动更大进化模式的机制。这个项目将促进我们对物种和动物种群如何变化的理解，以及我们如何评估它们的进化关系。研究成果和技术将用于开发可供科学家免费使用的统计工具、在线生物多样性数据库和以蜘蛛为中心的教育电脑游戏，以教授系统生物学的关键方面，特别是性选择和物种形成。两名博士后，一名博士生和多名本科生将在美国三个不同的机构接受该项目的培训。本科生将在研究中发挥重要作用，具有很高的独立项目潜力。该研究将从多个方面推进Habronattus的研究和渐渗杂交生物学领域的发展。在系统基因组学和系统地理学的尺度上，研究人员将量化树状分化和网状进化之间的平衡，解决是否通过渐进杂交而不是基于树的模型更好地解释表型进化。将进行系统发育比较分析，以询问求爱复杂性是否与谱系多样化、基因渗入和染色体进化的速率相关。发现广泛的基因渗透集中在最复杂的求偶群体中，这与动物交流理论的预期相矛盾。基因组尺度的数据将为解释物种限制提供一致、客观的框架，不受雄性装饰物“显著性”的影响。在行为层面，研究人员将解决渐渗杂交背后的近似机制，解决杂交是否是物种识别错误或新表型选择的最佳解释。大型经验基因组和表型数据集将促进新的计算机程序模块的发展，以绘制受渐进杂交或不完全谱系分类影响的表型特征。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

One of the major goals in biological research is to understand the processes that generate different species. Recently, biologists have suggested that the sharing of genes and traits between different species (hybridization) may play an important, but overlooked role. If true, this not only calls into question our understanding of how species form, but changes how we evaluate the relationships between species. In this project, researchers from San Diego State University and UC Berkeley will link studies of phylogeny and behavior to understand the role of hybridization in the evolution of a large genus of jumping spiders (Habronattus) from North America. The team will develop genomic resources to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships between species and to statistically test for the presence of hybridization in driving biodiversity patterns. Additionally, because hybridization occurs only when individuals of different species mate with each other, the team will examine the mating behaviors that control the exchange of genes and traits between separate species thus allowing insight into the mechanisms that drive larger evolutionary patterns. This project will advance our understanding of how species and populations of animals change and how we evaluate their evolutionary relationships. Research findings and techniques will be used to develop freely available statistical tools for scientists, online biodiversity databases, and educational spider-centric computer games to teach key aspects of systematic biology, in particular sexual selection and speciation. Two postdocs, one doctoral student, and multiple undergraduate students at three separate U.S. institutions will be trained on this project. Undergraduate students will play important roles in research, with high potential for independent projects.This research will advance Habronattus research, and the field of introgressive hybridization biology, in multiple ways. At both phylogenomic and phylogeographic scales the researchers will quantify the balance between tree-like divergence and reticulate evolution, addressing whether phenotypic evolution is better explained by introgressive hybridization rather than a tree-based model. Phylogenetic comparative analyses will be conducted to ask whether courtship complexity is correlated with rates of lineage diversification, introgression, and chromosome evolution. Finding widespread introgression concentrated in groups with the most complex courtship would contradict expectations of animal communication theory. Genomic-scale data will provide a consistent, objective framework for interpreting species limits, unbiased by male ornament "conspicuousness". At the behavioral level, the researchers will address the proximate mechanisms behind introgressive hybridization, addressing whether hybridization is best explained by errors in species recognition or selection for novel phenotypes. Large empirical genomic and phenotypic datasets will promote the development of new computer program modules to map phenotypic characters impacted by introgressive hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting.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.