NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: The relationship between seasonal adaptation and plasticity in the sea slug A. willowi

这项行动资助了2019财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。季节性的环境变化长期以来一直吸引着生物学家，并指导着我们自己的许多活动模式。季节通常呈现相反的条件（例如，温度和降水在夏季与冬季）和植物和动物必须有办法科普这些季节性变化。对于世代时间短的生物，季节性条件可能会通过自然选择影响遗传变化。或者，生物体可能会表现出不同的表型（性状），以应对不同的环境，没有遗传变化。或者两者的结合可能正在发生。海蛞蝓，这是众所周知的表现出惊人的变化，在他们的生活史，将进行分析。在加州海岸线上发现了海蛞蝓Alderia willowi，它在冬季会产生许多小的幼虫，而在夏季只会产生少数大的幼虫。它的世代时间短，因此遗传变化和表型变异都可能起作用。这项研究对于了解生物如何适应不断变化的气候特别重要。该研究员将在指导本科生进行研究活动的同时，对研究中不可或缺的生物信息学分析进行指导。该研究采用多因素和综合的方法，结合群体遗传学，基因表达和生理学，以评估基因组和表型变化的程度沿着季节时间尺度。研究员将从单一人群中收集季节性重复样本，以寻找与夏季和冬季相吻合的等位基因频率的重复波动。为了确定基因表达模式如何受到季节的影响，研究员将进行实验室实验，操纵夏季和冬季收集的蛞蝓所经历的温度和盐度。此外，研究员和本科生学员将全年进行生理学实验，以记录与基因型和基因表达变化同时发生的季节性变化。研究员将接受数据分析、科学报告和出版、本科生导师、讲习班设计和实施以及会议组织方面的培训。在整个PRFB任期内，研究员将在加州州立大学洛杉矶分校举办生物信息学研讨会，向学生介绍在命令行上执行分析。本次研讨会的几名学生将被招募继续与研究员合作，分析PRFB任期内产生的数据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Seasonal environmental change has long fascinated biologists and directs many of our own activity patterns. Seasons often present opposing conditions (e.g., temperature and precipitation in summer versus winter) and plants and animals must have ways to cope with these seasonal changes. For organisms with short generation times, seasonal conditions may effect genetic change through natural selection. Alternatively, organisms may show different phenotypes (traits) in response to different environments, without genetic changes. Or a combination of the two may be occurring. Sea slugs, which are known to exhibit striking variation during their life history, will be analyzed. The sea slug Alderia willowi is found on the California coastline and produces many small larvae during the winter and only a few large larvae during the summer. It has a short generation time and so both genetic change and phenotype variability may play a role. This research is particularly relevant to understanding how organisms may adapt to a changing climate. The Fellow will perform the research activities while mentoring undergraduate students in the bioinformatic analyses that are integral to the research.The research takes a multi-factorial and integrative approach combining population genetics, gene expression, and physiology to assess the degree of genomic and phenotypic change along seasonal time scales. The Fellow will collect seasonally replicated samples from a single population to search for repeated fluctuations in allele frequencies that coincide with the summer and winter seasons. To determine how patterns of gene expression are influenced by season, the Fellow will conduct lab experiments manipulating the temperature and salinity experienced by slugs collected in the summer and winter. Furthermore, the Fellow and undergraduate mentees will perform physiology experiments throughout the year to document seasonal changes that co-occur with changes in genotype and gene expression. The Fellow will receive training in data analyses, scientific presentation and publication, undergraduate mentorship, workshop design and implementation, and conference organization. Throughout the PRFB tenure, the Fellow will run a bioinformatics workshop at Cal State LA to introduce students to performing analyses on the command line. Several students from this workshop will be recruited to continue collaborating with the Fellow on analyses of the data generated during the PRFB tenure.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.