The Genetic Basis of Phenotypic Plasticity in Meiotic Recombination Rate

在真核生物中，如动物和植物，在配子产生过程中染色体之间的物理交换（重组）可以产生新的遗传信息，从而产生新的和潜在有用的性状。该项目的目标是了解特定的环境条件如何影响重组的速度，并最终获得新性状。这些研究可能会导致农业育种的新策略，因为这些策略的目标是生产具有新的有益性状的动植物。该项目将在夏季为未来的科学家提供实践研究培训，其中包括一名研究生和一些高中生。此外，该项目还将作为向当地K-12学校进行演讲的起点，以促进对遗传学和进化的理解，并激发科学探究的热情。表型可塑性，即单一基因型在不同环境中产生不同表型的能力，在自然界中普遍存在。尽管其普遍存在，但表型可塑性的遗传和分子基础仍不清楚。特别是，在多大程度上，个体特征的基因与这些特征的表型可塑性的基因是相同的，这仍然存在争议，部分原因是，很少有例子表明，性状的潜在遗传结构和任何相关的可塑性都被清楚地研究出来。重组率是塑性表型的一个重要例子。利用减数分裂重组率作为一种典型的可塑性性状，该项目将检验一种性状的表型可塑性是由该性状群体水平变异的相同基因介导的这一假设。以黑腹果蝇为遗传模型，实验将包括全基因组测序，表征哪些基因表达和表达量，以及关联图谱以发现基因型与表型的关系。实验将提供两组数据，一组确定与重组率的生物内部变异相关的遗传位点，另一组确定与重组率的种群间变异相关的遗传位点。如果在两个数据集中发现相同的基因座，这一结果将为表型可塑性的遗传基础提供重要的新见解。

In eukaryotes such as animals and plants, physical exchange (recombination) between chromosomes during production of gametes can produce novel sets of genetic information, thus yielding new and potentially useful traits. The goal of this project is to understand how certain environmental conditions affect the rate of recombination and, ultimately, the acquisition of new traits. These studies may lead to novel strategies for breeding in agricultural settings, since the goal of such strategies is to produce plants and animals with new and beneficial traits. The project will provide hands-on research training of future scientists, including a graduate student and number of high school students during the summers. In addition, this project will serve as a launching point for presentations to local K-12 schools to promote understanding of genetics and evolution and to spark enthusiasm for scientific inquiry. Phenotypic plasticity, the capacity of a single genotype to produce different phenotypes in different environments, is pervasive in nature. In spite of its ubiquity the genetic and molecular bases of phenotypic plasticity remain unknown. In particular, the extent to which genes underlying individual traits are the same genes underlying phenotypic plasticity in those traits remains controversial, in part because there are precious few examples for which the underlying genetic architecture of both the trait and any associated plasticity in that trait have been clearly worked out. Recombination rate is an important example of a plastic phenotype. Using meiotic recombination rate as a prototypical plastic trait, this project will test the hypothesis that phenotypic plasticity for a trait is mediated by the same genes underlying population-level variation in that trait. Using Drosophila melanogaster as the genetic model, experiments will include sequencing whole genomes, characterizing which genes are expressed and in what amounts, and association mapping to discover relationships of genotypes to phenotypes. The experiments will provide two sets of data, one identifying genetic loci associated with within-organism variation in recombination rate and the other identifying genetic loci associated with between-population variation in recombination rate. If the same loci are identified in the two data sets, this result would provide important new insights into the genetic basis of phenotypic plasticity.