EAGER: Hybridization and metabolic dysfunction in milkweeds

这项研究旨在了解当跨物种交配时，细胞中的生化过程和途径是如何被破坏的。两种乳草，普通乳草和艳丽乳草，在美国中部的广大地区形成杂交种。这项研究将确定这些物种之间自然杂交的程度，并确定物种之间不同的细胞途径。该信息将允许鉴定当杂交发生时被破坏的细胞途径。这项工作将阐明生物化学途径的组织和保持物种生殖隔离的机制。了解杂交的影响将变得越来越重要，因为气候变化和人类干扰导致物种范围发生变化，并使以前孤立的物种接触。该项目的结果将被整合到本科课程，以加强生物信息学和生物学入门课程，重点是定量推理，建模和simulation.This研究解决了我们对代谢途径的理解的根本差距，以及在物种形成过程中代谢组如何变化。当物种在隔离中进化并重新接触时，它们形成的杂交种往往显示出亲本手段之外的变异（超亲分离）。通过研究自然和人工授粉的杂交种与亲本物种沿着，研究人员将揭示物种分化时遗传结构的变化。研究人员将使用（1）基因型测序来重建整个同域区域的杂交历史，以及（2）一项全面的全球代谢组学研究来确定杂交后途径如何被破坏。这些数据将确定途径变化可能累积的位置，并确定新的目标代谢物。该项目由环境生物学部的进化过程集群和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This research aims to understand how biochemical processes and pathways in the cell are disrupted when mating occurs across species. Two milkweed species, the common milkweed and the showy milkweed, form hybrids across a wide region of the central United States. The research will determine the extent of natural hybridization between these species and identify the cellular pathways that differ between species. This information will allow identification of cellular pathways that are disrupted when hybridization occurs. This work will shed light on both the organization of biochemical pathways and the mechanisms that keep species reproductively isolated. Understanding the effects of hybridization will become increasingly important as climate change and human disturbance cause species ranges to shift and bring previously isolated species into contact. The results of the project will be integrated into undergraduate courses to strengthen bioinformatics and introductory biology courses with a focus on quantitative reasoning, modeling, and simulations.This research addresses a fundamental gap in our understanding of metabolic pathways and how the metabolome changes during speciation. When species evolve in isolation and come back into contact, the hybrids they form often display variation outside of the parental means (transgressive segregation). By studying natural and hand-pollinated hybrids along with the parental species, the researchers will uncover the changes to the genetic architecture that occur as species diverge. The researchers will use (1) genotype-by-sequencing to reconstruct the history of hybridization across the region of sympatry and (2) a comprehensive global metabolomics study to identify how pathways are disrupted following hybridization. These data will identify where pathway changes are likely to accumulate and identify new metabolites of interest. This project is jointly funded by the Evolutionary Processes Cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.