NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Evolution of the extended floral phenotype

该行动资助了NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，即研究基因组、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。研究员将研究生物相互作用对花特征的表达和进化的影响。传粉者是对花的性状，包括大小，颜色和气味进行选择的重要力量。花的组织经常窝藏的微生物的多样性，然而，影响重要的传粉吸引线索，与宿主繁殖的后果。尽管有这种效应的潜力，但目前还不清楚微生物是否可以改变传粉媒介介导的花性状选择。在操纵开花宿主，传粉者和微生物之间的相互作用后，研究员将使用化学和分子技术来评估这些生物相互作用对花性状的选择的强度和方向。这些研究将促进授粉生物学，并为促进花卉多样化的因素提供信息。研究员还将与当地机构和计划合作，通过提供学习和研究机会，扩大初中，高中和本科阶段代表性不足群体的参与。研究员将测试假设，花微生物和传粉者共同塑造花表型的选择。使用快速循环的芜菁植物和实验进化框架，研究员将操纵宿主植物，熊蜂（熊蜂），细菌（枯草芽孢杆菌）和/或酵母（Metschnikowia reukaufii）之间的相互作用，以剖析花表型进化的生物驱动因素。更具体地说，研究员将解决以下三个目标：1）检查微生物和传粉者对花的进化的相互作用，2）表征花表型变化的分子机制，和3）评估花的微生物居民的相互选择。通过考虑相互作用的合作伙伴之间的生态进化动力学，并采取多层次的选择方法，采用基因组学，转录组学和代谢组学的方法，本研究将解决一个重要的，但研究不足的组成部分授粉互惠和变异的来源，自然选择可以采取行动。在进行研究，研究员将获得在基因组学，转录组学和代谢组学的新技能。最后，来自科学领域代表性不足群体的初中、高中和大学生将被纳入研究，研究员还将在植物科学课程和外联活动中担任客座讲座。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。

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 Fellow will investigate the effect of biotic interactions on the expression and evolution of floral traits. Pollinators are a significant force of selection on floral traits, including size, color, and scent. Floral tissues frequently harbor a diversity of microbes, however, which impact cues important for pollinator attraction, with consequences for host reproduction. Despite the potential for such effects, it remains unclear whether microbes can modify pollinator-mediated selection on floral traits. After manipulating interactions among a flowering host, pollinator, and microbes the Fellow will use chemical and molecular techniques to assess the strength and direction of selection exerted on floral traits by these biotic interactions. Such research will advance pollination biology and inform understanding of factors promoting floral diversification. The Fellow will also collaborate with local institutions and programs to broaden participation of underrepresented groups at the middle school, high school, and undergraduate levels through providing opportunities for learning and research. The Fellow will test the hypothesis that floral microbes and pollinators jointly shape selection on floral phenotype. Using fast-cycling Brassica rapa plants and an experimental evolution framework, the Fellow will manipulate interactions among host plant, bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), bacterium (Bacillus subtilis), and/or yeast (Metschnikowia reukaufii) to dissect biotic drivers of floral phenotypic evolution. More specifically, the Fellow will address the following three objectives: 1) examination of interactive effects of microbes and pollinators on floral evolution, 2) characterization of molecular mechanisms underlying shifts in floral phenotype, and 3) assessment of reciprocal selection on microbial inhabitants of flowers. By considering such eco-evolutionary dynamics among interacting partners, and taking a multi-level selection approach that employs genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic approaches, this study will address an important but understudied component of pollination mutualism and the sources of variation upon which natural selection can act. In performing the research, the Fellow will acquire new skills in genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Finally, middle school, high school, and college students from groups underrepresented in the sciences will be included in the research, with the Fellow also giving guest lectures in plant science courses and at outreach events.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.