NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Investigating the behavioral and genetic mechanisms underlying invasiveness

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为《生活规则》领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。这项研究将研究种群的行为和遗传特征如何影响适应环境变化的能力。入侵物种是这项调查的主要模型，因为入侵需要种群容忍并迅速适应当地条件。研究员将使用家鼠（小家鼠）作为模型物种。家鼠是一种非常成功的入侵物种，已经在六大洲建立了种群，显示出它们对不同环境条件和压力源的巨大适应能力。小家鼠亚种在行为、遗传和入侵程度上存在差异，这有助于研究行为和遗传的变化如何影响适应能力。为了增加公众参与和扩大STEM的参与，该研究员将与小学合作，发展科学故事。该研究员将专注于主动反应行为综合症的行为和遗传变异。主动反应综合征包括大胆、活动、攻击和探索（BAAE）等相关行为轴。这些行为相关性的遗传结构可以影响种群的适应能力：如果遗传相关性是行为相关性的基础，那么种群进化新行为组合的能力可能受到限制。据预测，侵入性人群的BAAE水平高于非侵入性或非侵入性人群，并且相对不受遗传结构的约束；然而，这些假设很少得到侵入性模型的检验。研究员将首先询问两个亚种家鼠BAAE的行为差异是否能预测它们的入侵性差异。然后，该研究员将对野生杂交小鼠进行低覆盖率的全基因组测序，并使用关联图谱来识别行为特征的基因座，并确定与行为相关性相关的遗传机制。最后，研究员将研究行为相关性的遗传（co）方差，并询问这种遗传结构如何影响种群进化新性状组合的能力。这项研究的结果将有助于解决行为生态学和进化中的突出挑战，同时也为理解大范围的生态现象提供见解。除了研究技能外，研究员还将获得与MEME硕士项目的强大合作经验，该项目为广泛的国际学生提供服务。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 research will examine how behavioral and genetic characteristics of populations affect the ability to adapt to environmental change. Invasive species are a prime model for this investigation because invasions require populations to tolerate and rapidly adapt to local conditions. The Fellow will use the house mouse (Mus musculus) as a model species. House mice are a highly successful invasive species and have established populations across six continents, demonstrating their great capacity for adaptation to diverse environmental conditions and stressors. Mus subspecies differ in behavior, genetics, and degree of invasiveness, facilitating investigation of how variation in behavior and genetics contributes to the ability to adapt. To increase public engagement and broaden participation in STEM, the Fellow will collaborate with elementary schools and develop scientific storytelling. The Fellow will focus on behavioral and genetic variation in the proactive-reactive behavioral syndrome. The proactive-reactive syndrome comprises the correlated behavioral axes of boldness, activity, aggression, and exploration (BAAE). The genetic structure of these behavioral correlations can affect a population’s capacity for adaptation: if genetic correlations underlie behavioral correlations, populations may be constrained in their ability to evolve novel behavioral combinations. Invasive populations are predicted to have higher levels of BAAE than less invasive or non-invasive populations, and they are predicted to be relatively unconstrained by genetic architecture; however, these hypotheses have seldom been tested with invasive models. The Fellow will first ask whether behavioral differences in BAAE in two subspecies of house mice predict their differences in invasiveness. The Fellow will then perform low-coverage whole-genome sequencing on wild, hybrid mice and use association mapping to identify the loci underlying behavioral traits and determine the genetic mechanisms linking behavioral correlations. Finally, the Fellow will study the genetic (co)variance of behavioral correlations and ask how this genetic structure impacts the ability for populations to evolve novel trait combinations. Results from this study will help address outstanding challenges in behavioral ecology and evolution while also providing insight into understanding broad-scale ecological phenomena. In addition to research skills, the Fellow will gain a strong collaborative experience with the MEME Msc program which serves a wide body of international 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.