CSBR: Living Stocks - Enhancement of the Caenorhabditis Natural Diversity Resource

研究保守的生物过程需要与人类有共同属性的模式生物。大多数模式生物很容易在实验室中培养，并且能够进行实验操作。在过去的四十年里，秀丽隐杆线虫在遗传学、发育生物学和神经生物学的许多基础进展中发挥了重要作用。然而，所有这些发现都来自于对该物种单一菌株的研究。这种限制类似于我们可以通过研究我们物种中的一个人来了解所有人类生物学的论点。该项目旨在扩大秀丽隐杆线虫自然多样性资源（CeNDR），该资源包括来自世界各地的近1000种遗传上不同的菌株。这种遗传多样性有助于发现生理和行为特征的进化，包括对化学和生物压力的反应。因为人类与这种线虫有许多相同的基因和过程，使用这种有机体的研究可以告诉我们很多关于人类种群差异的信息。CeNDR有三个主要目标：(1)收集、组织和传播野生秀丽隐杆线虫菌株；(2)组织传播野生菌株全基因组序列和变异数据；(3)提供一个遗传学门户，以促进结果的映射和解释。该项目将对实现这些目标的方法和技术进行关键性改进。这些改进将使CeNDR的未来发现成为可能，并将使计划中的扩展包括菌株、全基因组数据和两种相关线虫物种（C. briggsae和C. tropicalis）的图谱。这种对隐杆线虫自然多样性资源（CaeNDR）的扩展将为线虫和可能的其他生物的比较进化方法建立无与伦比的新能力。大多数研究小组没有结合实验、计算和统计训练来轻松地进行自然变化的研究。这个项目将使这些工具在不同模式生物群落的研究实验室中可用。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。

Studies of conserved biological processes require model organisms which share attributes with humans. Most model organisms are easily grown in the laboratory and enable experimental manipulations. Over the last forty years, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been instrumental in numerous fundamental advances in genetics, developmental biology, and neurobiology. However, all of these discoveries come from studies of a single strain in the species. This limitation is similar to the argument that we can understand all of human biology by the study of a single person in our species. This project seeks to expand the C. elegans Natural Diversity Resource (CeNDR), which comprises nearly 1000 genetically distinct strains from around the world. This genetic diversity facilitates discoveries about the evolution of physiological and behavioral traits, including responses to chemical and biotic stresses. Because humans share many of the same genes and processes as this nematode species, studies using this organism can teach us a great deal about how the human population differs.CeNDR has three major goals: (1) Collect, organize, and disseminate wild C. elegans strains; (2) Organize and disseminate whole-genome sequence and variant data for wild strains; and (3) Provide a genetics portal to facilitate mappings and interpretations of results. This project will address critical improvements to the methodology and technology of each of those goals. These improvements will enable future discoveries with CeNDR and will enable the planned expansion to include strains, whole-genome data, and mappings for two related nematode species: C. briggsae and C. tropicalis. This expansion to the Caenorhabditis Natural Diversity Resource (CaeNDR) will build unparalleled new capacity for comparative evolution approaches in nematodes and likely other organisms. Most research groups do not have the combination of experimental, computational, and statistical training to easily perform studies of natural variation. This project will make these tools available and usable by research laboratories across diverse model organism communities.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.