NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of biparental inbreeding and outbreeding in the intertidal copepod

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。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。配偶的亲缘程度，以及他们之间共同祖先的数量，是生物后代进化的一个重要因素。近亲繁殖和远亲繁殖代表了许多生物的一系列繁殖策略，它们都有成本和收益，可以稳定或推动交配模式向这一范围的一端或另一端发展。本研究旨在加深我们对近亲繁殖在某些物种中普遍存在的原因的理解，以及环境和遗传因素如何促进近亲繁殖和远交之间的平衡。该研究员将获得宝贵的经验，包括客座教授本科生课程，指导本科生独立研究项目，以及为K-12学生设计以进化论为重点的探究式学习活动。最近有证据表明，海洋无脊椎动物的生物性状和近亲繁殖之间的关系表明，近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖之间的动态关系在推动生殖模式和扩散形式之间的主要进化转变中起着重要作用。对环境异质性的适应性分化可能是维持共适应基因型的关键过程，并有助于在一些具有不同交配表型的海洋无脊椎动物中进行惊人的近亲繁殖。本研究采用多代繁殖实验、基因组学、细胞分析和评估潮间带桡足动物（加利福尼亚虎足）的适应性来研究交配系统是如何从基因组、表型和环境中产生的。本研究提出了一种假设，即局部适应促进了近交交配系统的进化，并使用一个普通的花园实验来测试在原产地极端温度匹配和不匹配的条件下近交抑制的严重程度。此外，该研究还评估了制约交配系统的遗传因素，并在亲代亲缘关系的范围内量化了近交和远交抑制。在进化和保护遗传学领域的杰出研究人员的指导下，该研究员将发展多方面的技能，专注于多代杂交，计算基因组学的现代方法和种群水平的适应模式。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，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. The degree that mates are related, and the amount of common ancestry shared between them is an important element in the evolution of future generations of organisms. Inbreeding and outbreeding represent a spectrum of breeding strategies for many organisms, and both have costs and benefits that can stabilize or push patterns of mating toward one end of this spectrum or the other. This research aims to advance our understanding of why inbreeding is often prevalent in some species, and how environmental and genetic factors contribute to the balance between inbreeding and outbreeding. The fellow will gain invaluable experience guest lecturing in undergraduate courses, mentoring an undergraduate in an independent research project, and in designing an inquiry-based learning activity for K–12 students focused on evolution. Recent evidence of associations among organismal traits and inbreeding in marine invertebrates suggest that the dynamics between inbreeding and outbreeding plays an important role in driving major evolutionary transitions between reproductive modes and forms of dispersal. Adaptive differentiation in response to environmental heterogeneity may be a key process favoring the maintenance of coadapted genotypes and contributing to the surprising magnitude of inbreeding in some marine invertebrates with separate mating phenotypes. This research employs multigenerational breeding experiments, genomics, cellular assays, and assessments of fitness in the intertidal copepod (Tigriopus californicus) to investigate how mating systems emerge from genomes, phenotypes, and environments. The research addresses the hypothesis that local adaptation facilitates the evolution of inbreeding mating systems, and uses a common garden experiment to test the severity of inbreeding depression under conditions that match and mismatch temperature extremes in the site of origin. Moreover, the research evaluates the genetic factors that constrain mating systems, and quantifies inbreeding and outbreeding depression across a spectrum of parental relatedness. Under the guidance of prominent researchers in the fields of evolution and conservation genetics, the fellow will develop a multifaceted skillset focused on multigenerational hybridization, modern approaches to computational genomics, and population-level patterns of adaptation.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.