Collaborative Research: LIA: Genomic Mechanisms Controlling the Slow Development of the Antarctic Urchin Sterechinus Neumayeri

南极海洋无脊椎动物的发育速度异常缓慢。这种现象在独立的南极血统中反复出现，包括海胆、海星、腕足类和带虫。尽管有这些观察，但人们对南极海洋无脊椎动物发育缓慢的分子机制知之甚少。这项提议正在发展南极海胆，将其作为无脊椎动物的模式，以评估冷水生物的适应和发育。从麦克默多海峡采集的海胆正在经过精心控制的实验室实验进行研究。这项工作是专门确定负责调节肺炎链球菌发育时间的基因调控网络组件，更广泛地说，哪些基因调控网络元件是在适应南大洋极端环境的过程中进化的。这项以实验室为基础的工作集中在两个具体领域：1)确定肺炎链球菌在发育适应南大洋期间进化出的独特基因调控网络组件；2)分析早期肺炎链球菌基因调控网络中关键基因的空间表达和功能，该网络控制着沿早期前后轴区域的规范和模式。对温暖地区更好研究的海胆的比较分析将被用来为这项工作提供信息。这一努力涉及从极地生物学、发育生物学、进化和基因组学在内的几个生物学领域，同时明确地将基因型与表型联系在一起。更广泛的影响：该提案包括三名职业生涯早期的调查人员，他们是南极研究项目的新手，与一名知名的南极调查人员一起工作。该团队已经制定了一项雄心勃勃的计算机编码和生物学科学技术培训计划，目标是代表人数不足的学生。他们还开发了基于网络的生物信息学培训博客“2-bitbio”，旨在降低进入生物信息学领域的“障碍”。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Antarctic marine invertebrates exhibit extraordinarily slow rates of development. This phenomenon has arisen repeatedly in independent Antarctic lineages, including sea urchins, sea stars, brachiopods, and ribbon worms. Despite these observations, little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for slow developmental rates in Antarctic marine invertebrates. This proposal is developing the Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri, as a model invertebrate organism to evaluate cold water organismal adaptation and development. Urchins collected from McMurdo Sound are being studied in carefully controlled laboratory experiments. This work is specifically identifying the gene regulatory network components responsible for regulating developmental timing in S. neumayeri and, more generally, which gene regulatory network elements evolved during adaption to the extreme environment of the Southern Ocean. The lab-based work is focusing in two specific areas: 1) Identify unique gene regulatory network components of S. neumayeri that evolved during its developmental adaptation to the Southern Ocean, and 2) Analyze spatial expression and functions of key genes in the early S. neumayeri gene regulatory networks controlling specification and patterning of territories along the early anterior-posterior axis. A comparative analysis of better studied urchins from warmer regions will be used to inform this work. This effort is relevant to several fields of biology ranging from polar biology, developmental biology, evolution, and genomics while explicitly tying genotype to phenotype. Broader impacts: The proposal included three early career investigators who are new to Antarctic research programs working alongside a well-established Antarctic investigator. The team has developed an ambitious program for science and technology training in computer coding and biology targeted for underrepresented students. They also have developed web-based bioinformatics training blog, “2-bitbio”, which aims to decrease the ‘barrier to entry’ into the field of bioinformatics.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.