NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Parallel evolution of lizards in urban heat islands: locomotor performance, muscle physiology, and gene regulation

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：城市热岛蜥蜴的平行进化：运动性能、肌肉生理学和基因调控

• 批准号: 2109550
• 负责人: Andrea Rummel
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Rummel, Andrea
• 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=2109550&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. Temperature has a pervasive effect on animal performance and are of concern for both wildlife and humans. Because urban areas tend to be hotter than rural areas, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect, cities provide an opportunity to study how animals acclimate and adapt to high temperatures. This research explores adaptation to high temperatures in crested anole lizards living in cities relative to lizards living in forests in Puerto Rico through the lens of the locomotor system. The Fellow will compare the relationship to temperature of running speeds and muscle performance in city and forest lizards, and then examine genetic changes which underlie differences in responses to temperature. This research will deepen our understanding of how animals respond and adapt to the increasing temperatures predicted during climate change. The Fellow will also develop educational materials for K-12 students and incarcerated students as well as mentoring undergraduates. This project associates morphological, locomotor, and physiological phenotypes with features of the crested anole transcriptome to test the hypothesis that adaptive modification of fine-scale muscle physiology underlies divergence in the thermal tolerance of locomotor performance. The study system consists of multiple, independently derived urban and forest populations of crested anole lizards in Puerto Rico. Locomotor performance will be assessed by measuring sprint speeds across a range of temperatures, as well as morphological variables that are known to influence sprint speed in lizards. To disentangle the contributions of morphological and physiological subordinate traits to whole animal performance, the Fellow will then measure the intrinsic contractile properties of the locomotor muscles powering sprinting across temperatures to assess the impact of muscle thermal sensitivity on locomotor performance. Finally, muscle transcriptomes will be compared between urban–forest pairs and across localities to identify differentially expressed genes and signatures of selection which are associated with differences in temperature-dependent performance. This work will significantly expand our current knowledge of how urban environments modify complex phenotypes on rapid timescales. Under the guidance of Dr. Campbell-Staton, the Fellow will receive training in thermal physiology and transcriptomics, and enhance mentorship and communication skills by working with undergraduates and other students.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 2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学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。温度对动物的表现有着普遍的影响，并且受到野生动物和人类的关注。由于城市地区往往比农村地区更热，这种现象被称为城市热岛效应，因此城市提供了研究动物如何适应高温的机会。这项研究通过运动系统的视角，探讨了生活在城市中的凤头变色龙与生活在波多黎各森林中的蜥蜴对高温的适应能力。该研究员将比较城市蜥蜴和森林蜥蜴的跑步速度和肌肉性能与温度的关系，然后研究导致温度反应差异的基因变化。这项研究将加深我们对动物如何应对和适应气候变化期间预测的气温升高的理解。该研究员还将为 K-12 学生和被监禁的学生开发教育材料，并指导本科生。该项目将形态、运动和生理表型与冠变色蜥转录组的特征联系起来，以测试精细肌肉生理学的适应性修改是运动性能热耐受性差异的基础的假设。该研究系统由波多黎各多个独立衍生的城市和森林冠变色蜥种群组成。将通过测量一定温度范围内的冲刺速度以及已知影响蜥蜴冲刺速度的形态变量来评估运动性能。为了理清形态和生理从属特征对整个动物表现的影响，研究员将测量在不同温度下为冲刺提供动力的运动肌肉的内在收缩特性，以评估肌肉热敏感性对运动表现的影响。最后，将比较城市-森林对之间以及不同地区的肌肉转录组，以确定与温度依赖性性能差异相关的差异表达基因和选择特征。这项工作将显着扩展我们目前对城市环境如何在快速时间尺度上改变复杂表型的知识。在 Campbell-Staton 博士的指导下，该研究员将接受热生理学和转录组学方面的培训，并通过与本科生和其他学生合作来提高指导和沟通技巧。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。