EAGER: Color, Vision, and Species Delimitation in the Jewel Beetles: From Opsin Proteins to Spectral Color

动物的视觉经历了多次进化，但推动这种进化的过程只被部分理解。这个项目调查了地球上最多样化的生命群体甲虫的视觉进化。众所周知，许多甲虫是重要的农业害虫，了解这些生物如何感知周围环境和寻找配偶可能为控制它们的传播提供新的方法。宝石甲虫（家族名称bupredae），也被称为金属钻木甲虫，是一大群魅力十足的昆虫，由于它们丰富多彩的彩虹色，吸引了艺术家、珠宝制造商和科学家的眼球。宝石甲虫还拥有具有重要经济意义的成员，最著名的是翡翠灰螟——一种引进的害虫，正在迅速摧毁美国大量的白蜡树。人们对宝石甲虫的家谱知之甚少，在这个群体中如何获得颜色视觉，或者鲜艳的贝壳颜色是如何形成的。该项目将利用DNA序列数据重建该群体内的家谱关系，然后使用一种新的实验组合来更好地了解它们的视觉蛋白（视蛋白）的生理功能。本科生和研究生将接受不同领域和实验室方法的培训，包括分子、系统发育和生理方法。以研究成果为基础的学习模块也将根据国家教育标准开发用于高中AP生物课程。宝石甲虫是最著名的昆虫之一，但人们对这一群体的系统发育关系知之甚少。该研究项目将利用转录组学数据重建系统发育关系，为研究色觉的分子成分（如视蛋白）提供必要的进化框架。这些视觉蛋白的敏感性随后将通过在模型生物——黑腹果蝇中的表达进行测试，形态学分析将用于探索外骨骼上的颜色和图案是如何形成的。利用这种视觉色素蛋白转录组学、HEK细胞和果蝇的异位视觉色素表达以及角质层颜色分析的新组合，这个综合项目将为一种鲜为人知但在农业上很重要的甲虫群体的视觉进化提供新的见解。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。

Vision has evolved multiple times within animals, but the processes driving this evolution are only partially understood. This project investigates the evolution of vision within beetles, the most diverse groups of life on the planet. Many beetles are known to be significant agricultural pests and understanding how these organisms perceive their surroundings and find mates may provide new methods for controlling their spread. Jewel beetles (family name Buprestidae), otherwise known as the metallic wood-boring beetles, are a large group of charismatic insects that have captured the eye of artists, jewelry makers, and scientists alike due to their broad diversity of iridescent coloration. Jewel beetles also possess members of significant economic importance, most notably the Emerald Ash Borer - an introduced pest species that is rapidly destroying large numbers of ash trees in the U.S. Little is known about the genealogy of jewel beetles, how color vision is achieved within the group, or how the brilliant shell colors are formed. This project will reconstruct genealogical relationships within the group using DNA sequence data and then use a novel combination of experiments to better understand the physiological functions of their visual proteins (opsins). Undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in diverse field and laboratory approaches, including molecular, phylogenetic, and physiological methods. A learning module based on results from the research will also be developed for high school AP Biology courses in line with state education standards.Jewel beetles are some of the most well-known insects, but phylogenetic relationships within the group are poorly understood. This research project will use transcriptomic data to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships to provide the evolutionary framework necessary to investigate the molecular components of color vision (e.g., opsin proteins). The sensitivity of these visual proteins will then be tested through expression in a model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and morphological analyses will be used to explore how colors and patterns on the exoskeleton are formed. Using this novel combination of visual pigment protein transcriptomics, ectopic visual pigment expression in HEK cells and Drosophila melanogaster, and analysis of cuticular color, this integrative project will provide new insights into the evolution of vision in a poorly known, yet agriculturally important, group of beetles.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.