NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: General plasticity kinetics: developing a universal framework of developmental plasticity

这一行动为NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。所有的多细胞生物体都是按照它们的基因所定义的身体计划发育的。然而，发展轨迹也必须足够灵活，以适应不同的环境条件。可塑性特征可以通过一种被称为遗传适应的过程持续存在，这一过程越来越多地被讨论为新颖性和差异性的主要促进者。本项目旨在证明发育可塑性在进化论中的价值和重要性，并阐明表型是如何从基因和环境之间的相互作用中产生的。为了促进广泛传播，该研究员将创建一个互动的网络界面，以可视化任何塑料特性的参数和数学建模和发育生物学本科课程的教学模块。为了促进历史上被排除在外的学生被保留并纳入生物学研究生课程，该研究员将开发研讨会材料，并为犹他大学的多样性研究员计划建立一个导师计划。该项目将介绍一个研究可塑性的一般框架，借鉴理论生态学和数学建模的原理(目标I)，然后将该通用模型应用于双胃线虫Pristionchus属口型可塑性的实验室案例研究(目标II)。这项研究将跨越生命层次的几个尺度，并使用不同的方法揭示三种预测的结果：可塑性的变化，特征进化的相应变化，以及两者的潜在分子机制。这项工作实时识别遗传适应的过程，将在一个新兴的模型研究系统中，将对环境扰动的发育可塑性与严格的理论和经验实验室方法联系起来。这项研究有可能修改主流进化生物学，纳入关于环境和基因如何决定发育表型的成熟理论。这位研究员将经历数学建模、功能基因组学和指导实践方面的培训；这些技能是解决生态学和进化生物学中许多最重要的现代问题所必需的。外展活动包括组织一个当地的点对点学习社区，以促进开放式科学的实践和R的重现性。该奖项反映了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。

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. All multicellular organisms develop according to a body plan defined by their genes. However, developmental trajectories must also be flexible enough to respond to different environmental conditions. Plastic traits can persist through a process known as genetic accommodation, which has been increasingly discussed as a major facilitator of novelty and divergence. This project aims to demonstrate developmental plasticity's value and prominence in evolutionary theory and to elucidate how phenotypes arise from the interplay between genotypes and the environment. To promote broad dissemination, the Fellow will create an interactive web interface to visualize the parameters of any plastic trait and teaching modules for undergraduate courses in Mathematics Modeling and Developmental Biology. To promote retention and inclusion of historically excluded students in biology graduate programs, the Fellow will develop workshop materials and establish a mentorship program for the Diversity Fellows Program at the University of Utah. The project will introduce a general framework for studying plasticity, drawing from principles of theoretical ecological and mathematical modeling (Aim I) and then apply that universal model to a laboratory case study of mouth-form plasticity in the Pristionchus genus of Diplogastrid nematodes (Aim II). This research will span several scales in the hierarchy of life and use diverse methodologies to reveal three predicted outcomes: changes in plasticity, corresponding changes in trait evolution, and the underlying molecular mechanisms of both. This work identifying the process of genetic accommodation in real time will tie developmental plasticity in response to environmental perturbations to rigorous theoretical and empirical laboratory approaches in an emerging model study system. This research has the potential to revise mainstream evolutionary biology to include a mature theory of how the environment and genes determine phenotypes during development. The Fellow will experience training on mathematical modeling, functional genomics, and mentorship practices; these skills are required to tackle many of the most important modern problems in ecology and evolutionary biology. Outreach activities include organizing a local peer-to-peer learning community to promote the practice of OpenScience and reproducibility in R.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.