Doctoral Dissertation Research: Socio-genomic Evolution of Primates

博士论文研究：灵长类动物的社会基因组进化

• 批准号: 1919663
• 负责人: Jason Kamilar
• 金额: $ 2.05万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1919663&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Socio; genomic

In this doctoral dissertation project, the investigator will use whole genome sequencing to examine how genetic networks encompassing hundreds of genes involved in regulating social behavior have evolved across sifakas, a behaviorally and ecologically diverse group of lemurs. This research will provide new insights about the genomic contributions to social behavioral evolution, and advance knowledge about the complex interplay of genetics, ecology, and the social environment in shaping primate behavior. The project may inform public health research, as some genetic pathways investigated in this project have also been implicated in the development and expression of various psychiatric illnesses. The project will also support primate conservation efforts, research and training opportunities, and research infrastructure at the study locations. The investigator will make all of their data publicly available, thereby providing additional research opportunities beyond the scope of this project. Many previous studies into the influences of genetics on social behavior have focused on examining single or few candidate genes and often only protein-coding portions of those genes. Here the researchers will take a whole genome sequencing approach to holistically examine the evolution of genomic regions involved in the development and expression of social behavior (i.e. "sociogenomic" regions) in sifakas. The researchers will generate a whole genome sequence for each of the eight sifaka species without a current reference genome. They will also sequence a woolly lemur individual to be able to identify genetic sequences that are unique to sifakas. Subsequently, they will subset the whole genome sequences to sociogenomic regions and examine their evolution. The researchers will specifically examine: (1) Whether sociogenomic regions have been significantly conserved across sifakas, indicative of evolutionary constraint (2) Evidence of selection acting on protein-coding portions of sociogenomic regions relative to differences in sifaka social and ecological environments and (3) The presence of accelerated evolution occurring in regions potentially involved in regulating the expression of sociogenomic genes.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.

在这个博士学位论文项目中，研究人员将使用整个基因组测序来研究涵盖数百个参与调节社会行为的基因的遗传网络如何在行为和生态上多样化的狐猴群体中演变。这项研究将提供有关对社会行为进化的基因组贡献的新见解，并提高有关塑造灵长类动物行为的遗传学，生态学和社会环境的复杂相互作用的知识。该项目可能会为公共卫生研究提供信息，因为该项目中研究的一些遗传途径也与各种精神病的发展和表达有关。该项目还将支持研究地点的灵长类动物保护工作，研究和培训机会以及研究基础设施。调查人员将公开提供所有数据，从而为该项目的范围提供了其他研究机会。先前对遗传学对社会行为影响的许多研究都集中在检查单个或几个候选基因，并且通常仅仅是这些基因的蛋白质编码部分。在这里，研究人员将采用一种整个基因组测序方法，以整体研究与西法卡斯（Sifakas）社会行为发展和表达相关的基因组区域的演变。研究人员将为八种Sifaka物种中的每一个生成一个整个基因组序列，而没有当前的参考基因组。他们还将对羊毛狐猴个体进行测序，以鉴定Sifakas独有的遗传序列。随后，它们将将整个基因组序列纳入社会基因组区域并检查其进化。研究人员将具体研究：（1）在西法卡斯之间，社会基因组区域是否已得到显着保守，表明了进化约束（2）选择作用于社会基因组区域的蛋白质编码部分的证据相对于Sifaka社会和生态环境中的差异的蛋白质编码部分以及（3）在社会中的存在，以及（3）在社会中的存在。反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估值得支持。