NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: What?s in a name? Linking type specimens, reproductive mode, and genetics in Pteridaceae

这一行动为NSF 2019财年生物学博士后研究奖学金-使用生物收藏进行研究-提供资金。该奖学金支持将以创新方式利用生物收藏的研究员的研究和培训。每一种名上都有一个参考(模式)标本。模式标本对于生物学家识别新物种和推断物种之间的关系至关重要。然而，由于保存的标本中DNA质量较差，可以获得遗传数据的类型标本很少。这对研究物种边界不清或进化历史复杂的有机体群体中的进化的科学家构成了重大挑战。蕨类植物特别值得注意的是它们相似的形态和复杂的遗传构成，所有这些都可能模糊进化关系。为了解决这个问题，这位研究员将利用DNA测序技术的进步，从数十年和数百年前的蕨类植物样本中产生基因序列数据，以估计基因组变化和杂交作为蕨类物种多样性驱动因素的作用。这项研究的结果不仅将为蕨类群落提供新的分子工具和重要的生活史数据，还将为博物馆基因组学这一新兴学科做出贡献，帮助解锁自然历史收藏品中包含的丰富的生物多样性数据。在研究的初始阶段，该研究员将使用孢子分析来确定繁殖模式并估计美国国家植物标本馆中不同蕨类植物科500+型标本的倍性水平。在该项目的第二阶段，该研究员将从所有类型的样本中提取DNA，并使用定制的DNA杂交探针来丰富两个重要的叶绿体基因(条形码座位rbcL和matK)和25个低到单拷贝的核基因。这个系统基因组数据集将被用来(1)推断蕨科的全科系统发育；(2)确认每种类型标本的倍性水平；以及(3)识别由全基因组复制和杂交驱动的物种形成事件。这项研究将在国家自然历史博物馆的美国国家植物标本馆进行。这位研究员将接受系统基因组学、计算生物学、分子生物学和显微镜方面的培训。该研究员还将指导为研究生和博士后学者举办的一系列科学交流研讨会。研讨会参与者和研究员将根据他们的研究开发课堂活动，这些活动将通过“与科学家见面”活动带到华盛顿特区大都市区的K-12学校。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. Tied to each species name is a reference (type) specimen. Type specimens are critically important for biologists for identifying new species and inferring relationships between species. However, due to poor DNA quality in preserved specimens, there are few type specimens for which genetic data are available. This poses a significant challenge to scientists studying evolution in groups of organisms with unclear species boundaries or complex evolutionary histories. Ferns are particularly noteworthy for their similar morphologies and complicated genetic makeup, all of which can obscure evolutionary relationships. To address this problem, the fellow will use advances in DNA sequencing technology to generate gene sequence data from decades- and centuries-old type specimens of ferns to estimate the role of genome changes and hybridization as drivers of fern species diversity. The results of this research will not only provide new molecular tools and important life history data for the fern community, but will also contribute to the emerging discipline of museum genomics, helping to unlock the wealth of biodiversity data contained within natural history collections.In the initial phase of the research, the fellow will use spore analysis to determine reproductive mode and estimate ploidy level for the 500+ type specimens in the diverse fern family Pteridaceae at the US National Herbarium. In the second phase of the project, the fellow will extract DNA from all type specimens and use custom DNA hybridization probes to enrich for two important chloroplast genes (the barcode loci rbcL and matK) and 25 low- to single-copy nuclear genes. This phylogenomic dataset will be used to (1) infer a family-wide phylogeny for the Pteridaceae; (2) confirm the ploidy level of each type specimen; and (3) identify speciation events driven by whole-genome duplications and hybridization. This research will be hosted at the US National Herbarium at the National Museum of Natural History. The fellow will receive training in phylogenomics, computational biology, molecular biology and microscopy. The fellow will also direct a science communication workshop series for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Workshop participants and the fellow will develop classroom activities based on their research, which will be brought to K-12 schools in the Washington, DC metro area through 'Meet a Scientist' events.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.