RII Track-2 FEC: Consortium for Plant Invasion Genomics (CPING): Combining Big Data and Plant Collections to Understand Invasiveness

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Invasive species threaten biodiversity, impact crops, restructure ecosystems, promote disease, and damage infrastructure, costing the US $120 billion annually. Despite these impacts, understanding of how and why introduced species become invasive is shockingly incomplete. This knowledge gap reflects a lack of information about the early stages of invasions and the role of evolution in promoting invasiveness. The recent revolution in genome sequencing and computing technology promises to narrow this gap. By comparing genome sequences of historic herbarium specimens spanning the duration of an invasion, researchers are able to step back in time and examine the patterns and processes that promote invasion from initial introduction to present day. The Consortium for Plant INvasion Genomics (CPING) will harness the Big Data generated by this genomic revolution for the study of invasive species and train a generation of scientists in new genomic methods. Through collaborative projects focused on five invasive species of national concern, CPING initially housed at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, South Dakota State University, the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, West Virginia University, and Wichita State University will expand to unite scientists and students at more than 60 institutions in 18 EPSCoR states to better understand how plants become invasive and provide insights into the management and prevention of invasive species. CPING incorporates a training program in new genomic methods designed for all levels of academia (undergraduate students to faculty) comprising 5-day genomics bootcamps that will train 36 scientists from regional and local colleges and universities. All participants will contribute to projects on the five CPING focal species and conduct individual research projects in their own labs, providing hands-on research opportunities for 39 undergraduate students. By combining expertise and resources from scientists across many EPSCoR jurisdictions, CPING will facilitate highly collaborative investigation of plant invasions, provide training in key genomic techniques, enable EPSCoR researchers to better compete for funding, and foster genomics and bioinformatics STEM education.Despite immense investment into the study and control of invasive species, fundamental questions regarding the genetic basis and evolution of invasiveness remain poorly understood due to a lack of genomic resources for most invasive plants. The project initially brings together scientists from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, South Dakota State University, the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, West Virginia University, and Wichita State University to form the Consortium for Plant INvasion Genomics (CPING) unites faculty across EPSCoR institutions to examine how colonization, gene flow, and adaptation shape population dynamics and facilitate invasion in five high-profile invasive species. For each focal species, CPING participants will apply cutting-edge methods to contemporary and historical specimens to build spatial and temporal genomic datasets spanning entire invasions. We will harness this Big Data to address several long-standing questions regarding invasions: 1) How do colonization dynamics-the number, location, timing, and genetic diversity-impact the establishment and spread of species in new environments? (2) Does hybridization impact invasiveness? (3) Does adaptation lead to genomic and phenotypic novelty that may facilitate invasion? Together, the five CPING focal projects will yield a novel, synthetic understanding of the roles of the crucial population-level processes involved in the spread of invasive plants, as well as offer species-specific insights on the importance of asexuality, polyploidy, and genome structure in invasiveness. A parallel focus of CPING is building a collaborative network of genomics and bioinformatics literate scientists capable of addressing invasive species as a problem of national concern. CPING will employ a hub-and-spoke organizational structure to train faculty and students at institutions in more than 18 EPSCoR jurisdictions. Direct benefits to participants include expanding their research capabilities, increasing their competitiveness for funding, and improving their ability to provide genomics and bioinformatics education. CPING training workshops will produce a wealth of publicly available training tutorials, laboratory protocols, and teaching materials. CPING also plans to engage the public on the problem and prevention of invasive species through local radio programming and interactions with researchers.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.