BII-Design: Does variable genome instability impact lifespan differences between males and females and across species?

该项目将设计一个新的研究所，以调查为什么某些物种的雄性和雌性在寿命上存在差异。 在人类中，像许多其他动物一样，雌性往往比雄性活得更长。 然而，男性和女性之间的寿命差异并不普遍。在某些物种中，雌性寿命更长，而在其他物种中，雄性和雌性之间的寿命没有差异。为什么男性和女性之间的衰老和寿命存在差异目前尚不清楚。 该项目将通过汇集来自不同生物学领域的专家来解决这个问题，以形成整合研究所：性别，衰老，基因组学和表观遗传学（IISAGE）。 IISAGE将制定一项协调的研究计划，调查基因组不稳定性对不同物种雄性和雌性之间寿命差异的影响。IISAGE还将为参与的学生建立跨学科的培训计划。该项目将通过会议和一个网站向科学界开展外联活动，并将专门招募代表性不足的群体参加该研究所。基因组不稳定性随着许多物种的年龄增长而增加，被认为是衰老的一个重要因素。 然而，关于基因组不稳定性如何影响男性与女性的衰老和寿命，以及这是否在具有不同生活史和性别决定机制的物种之间存在差异，在知识上存在重大差距。 IISAGE将建立一个拥有分子生物学，生理学，生态学和进化生物学各种专业知识的科学家社区，以全面解决基因组不稳定性如何影响动物王国寿命的性别差异。 具体而言，IISAGE在BII-Design阶段的目标是：1）完善未来IISAGE研究所解决的具体问题和采用的方法; 2）为IISAGE成员制定跨学科培训/职业发展计划;和3）建立必要的程序，以便在IISAGE成员之间进行有效的数据管理和信息交换。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被视为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，

This project will design a new institute to investigate why males and females of some species differ in how long they live. In humans, like in many other animals, females tend to live longer than males. However, this lifespan difference between males and females is not universal. In some species females live longer, and in other species there is no lifespan difference between males and females. Why there are differences in aging and lifespan between males and females is currently unknown. This project will address this question by bringing together experts from diverse fields of biology to form the Integration Institute: Sex, Aging, Genomics, and Epigenetics (IISAGE). IISAGE will develop a coordinated research plan to investigate the contribution of genome instability to differences in lifespan between males and females across species. IISAGE will also establish an interdisciplinary training program for participating students. The project will conduct outreach to the scientific community through conferences and a website, and will specifically recruit underrepresented groups to participate in the institute.Genome instability increases with age in many species and is considered an important contributor to aging. However, there is a significant gap in knowledge concerning how genome instability variably impacts males versus females in aging and lifespan, and whether this differs across species with diverse life histories and mechanisms of sex determination. IISAGE will build a community of scientists with various expertise in molecular biology, physiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology to comprehensively address how genome instability impacts sex differences in lifespan across the animal kingdom. Specifically, the goals of IISAGE in the BII-Design phase are to: 1) Refine the specific questions addressed and methods employed by future IISAGE research; 2) Develop an interdisciplinary training/career development program for the members of IISAGE; and 3) Establish the procedures necessary for efficient data management and information exchange between the members of IISAGE.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.