NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Integrating from genes to the environment to understand nutrient foraging behavior in honey bees

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：从基因到环境的整合，以了解蜜蜂的营养觅食行为

• 批准号: 2109109
• 负责人: Gabriela Quinlan
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Quinlan, Gabriela
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109109&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research will integrate from genes to the environment to understand nutrient foraging in honey bees. A honey bee colony is made up of thousands of bees that work together to complete tasks such as foraging for food. Foraging is influenced by several interacting factors, including the environment (food availability), colony (social cues related to food supply and demand), individual bees (food preferences/ foraging behaviors), and the underlying physical conditions/ genes driving individual behaviors. Understanding how each of these factors influences foraging and nutrition could provide beekeepers with ways to support colony nutrition (e.g., colony-tailored diets). Poor nutrition is a key stressor underlying declining pollinator health, so improving honey bee nutrition would support crop pollination. More broadly, understanding how foraging for nutrients is regulated in these multi-level systems will deepen our understanding of nutrition, animal behavior (particularly foraging), and the evolution of social groups in other biological systems. To broaden participation, the fellow will mentor two undergraduates from groups underrepresented in STEM during this project.To determine the effect of colony-level social cues and the forage environment on pollen foraging, this research will assess the protein and lipid content and taxonomic identity of pollen collected by colonies with different amounts of brood (developing larvae) and at different times during the summer. Then, to determine how colonies adjust foraging behavior of individual bees to respond to changing environmental foraging conditions, the fellow will monitor individual forager behavior under different nutrient stress conditions in foraging arenas. Foragers from this experiment will be collected and their transcriptome will be assessed to determine the genes underlying individual foraging preferences and if these genes are responsive to environmental conditions. To determine how individual physiology and colony social cues interact to influence individual gene expression and foraging preference, a cohort of foragers will be fatty-acid synthesis inhibited and observed in the foraging arenas under different nutrient stress conditions. Results from this research will be disseminated through scientific and stakeholder articles, conferences, and outreach. The fellow will gain career training in molecular techniques and Bayesian statistical analysis. She will also enhance her teaching/mentoring and broaden her professional network.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.

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。这项研究将从基因到环境整合，以了解蜜蜂的营养觅食。一个蜂群由成千上万只蜜蜂组成，它们共同完成觅食等任务。觅食受到几个相互作用的因素的影响，包括环境（食物可用性），群体（与食物供应和需求相关的社会线索），个体蜜蜂（食物偏好/觅食行为），以及驱动个体行为的潜在物理条件/基因。了解这些因素中的每一个如何影响觅食和营养，可以为养蜂人提供支持蜂群营养的方法（例如，群体定制的饮食）。营养不良是导致传粉者健康下降的一个关键压力源，因此改善蜜蜂营养将支持作物授粉。更广泛地说，了解这些多层次系统中营养物质的觅食是如何调节的，将加深我们对营养、动物行为（特别是觅食）以及其他生物系统中社会群体进化的理解。为了扩大参与，该研究员将指导两个本科生从组在STEM在这个项目中代表性不足。为了确定群体水平的社会线索和花粉觅食的饲料环境的影响，本研究将评估蛋白质和脂质含量和花粉的分类身份收集的殖民地与不同数量的育雏（发育幼虫），并在夏季的不同时间。然后，为了确定蜂群如何调整个体蜜蜂的觅食行为以应对不断变化的环境觅食条件，该研究员将在觅食场所的不同营养胁迫条件下监测个体觅食行为。将收集来自该实验的觅食者，并评估其转录组，以确定个体觅食偏好的潜在基因以及这些基因是否对环境条件有反应。为了确定个体生理和群体社会线索如何相互作用以影响个体基因表达和觅食偏好，将在不同营养胁迫条件下在觅食场所抑制和观察一组觅食动物的脂肪酸合成。这项研究的结果将通过科学和利益相关者的文章，会议和宣传传播。该研究员将获得分子技术和贝叶斯统计分析方面的职业培训。她还将加强她的教学/指导和扩大她的专业网络。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。