Collaborative Research: Using Herbivorous Insect Genomes for Crop Tracking

该项目使用昆虫基因组来研究北美原住民作物范围扩张的历史。 人类对动植物物种的驯化和协助传播极大地改变了全球生态系统，但对某些物种历史驯化的直接研究往往受到方法学挑战的限制。 例如，虽然对一些北美作物的祖先分布区和随后的分布区扩展进行了深入研究，但其他作物仍然相对难以进入。 这项研究探讨了寄生在焦点作物植物上的昆虫基因组中捕获的范围扩张的历史信号是否可以用作植物本身历史的代理。 这项研究提供了一个一般性的原则证明，使用寄生昆虫研究其植物宿主的人口历史，但也具体测试假设的驯化前的范围和历史的扩张为三种作物的东部农业综合体（EAC）：普通向日葵，耶路撒冷朝鲜蓟，和sumpweed。 这项研究的结果是对研究生和本科生的培训，导致设计和实施新的公共宣传演示材料，并带来了一个大型的公共科学活动，重点是土著农业。这项研究使用专业昆虫的基因组中捕获的信息来重建三种北美作物过去种植和随后的范围扩张的签名;这项工作解决了以下问题：这些植物在首次被用作农作物之前生长在哪里，后来又被人们移到哪里（以及何时）？ 普通向日葵、耶路撒冷和金雀花是北美原住民作为东部农业综合体的一部分种植的，但除此之外，关于它们各自的祖先分布范围和随后的分布范围扩展模式的了解有很大的差异。 北美Strauzia属的两种苍蝇分别以普通向日葵和耶路撒冷朝鲜蓟为食，而细花蛾的毛虫则是专门以松草为食的食草动物。 研究人员正在北美宿主植物范围内大量收集这三种昆虫寄生虫，然后询问它们的基因组，寻找历史种群规模变化的信号以及范围扩张的方向和时间。 一般的预测是，每种昆虫遗传多样性最高的区域将对应于EAC的历史边界，暗示该区域是每种植物祖先范围的一部分。 第二个期望是，使用遗传数据的人口情景测试将最好地支持相对较新的范围扩展，从各自的原生范围辐射出去（S）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

This project uses insect genomes to examine the histories of crop range expansions by Indigenous North Americans. The domestication and assisted dispersal of plant and animal species by humans has dramatically changed global ecosystems, but the direct study of historical domestication of some species is often limited by methodological challenges. For example, while the ancestral ranges and subsequent range extensions of some North American crops are well studied, others remain relatively inaccessible. This research explores whether historical signals of range expansion captured within the genomes of insects, parasitic on focal crop plants, can be used as proxies for the histories of the plants themselves. This research provides a general proof of principle for using parasitic insects to study demographic histories of their plant hosts, but also specifically tests hypotheses for the pre-domestication ranges and histories of expansion for three crops of the Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC): Common sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, and sumpweed. This research results in the training of graduate and undergraduate students, lead to design and implementation of new materials for public outreach demonstrations, and bring about a large public science event focused on the Indigenous agriculture.This research uses information captured in the genomes of specialist insects to reconstruct signatures of past cultivation and subsequent range expansions for three North American crops; the work addresses the questions: where did these plants grow before they were first used as crops, and where (and when) were they subsequently moved by people? Common sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, and sumpweed are known to have been cultivated by Indigenous North Americans as part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, but beyond this there is great variance in how much is known about their respective ancestral ranges and subsequent patterns of range extensions. Two fly species in the North American genus Strauzia feed on, respectively, common sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke, while caterpillars of the slender flower moth are specialist herbivores on sumpweed. The researchers are making large collections of these three insect parasites from across their host plants’ ranges in the North America, and then interrogating their genomes for signals of historical population size changes and the direction and timing of range expansions. A general prediction is that the region of highest genetic diversity for each insect will correspond to the historical boundaries of the EAC, implicating this area as having been part of the ancestral range for each plant. A second expectation is that tests of demographic scenarios using genetic data will best support relatively recent range expansions, radiating out from their respective native range(s).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.