Collaborative Research: Using Herbivorous Insect Genomes for Crop Tracking

合作研究：利用草食性昆虫基因组进行作物追踪

• 批准号: 2114296
• 负责人: Andrew Kitchen
• 金额: $ 22.08万
• 依托单位: University of Iowa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114296&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Using; Herbivorous; Insect

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.

该项目利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辅助扩散极大地改变了全球生态系统，但对某些物种的历史驯化的直接研究往往受到方法论挑战的限制。 例如，虽然一些北美作物的祖先范围和随后的范围扩展得到了深入研究，但其他作物仍然相对难以接近。 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。 这项研究为利用寄生昆虫研究其植物宿主的人口历史提供了一般原理证明，而且还专门测试了东部农业综合体（EAC）三种作物（向日葵、菊芋和菊草）的驯化前范围和扩张历史的假设。 这项研究成果对研究生和本科生进行了培训，设计和实施了用于公共宣传示范的新材料，并引发了一场以本土农业为重点的大型公共科学活动。这项研究利用专业昆虫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范围扩大的特征；该作品解决了以下问题：这些植物在首次用作农作物之前生长在哪里，以及它们随后被人类转移到哪里（以及何时）？ 据了解，普通向日葵、菊芋和菊草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，人们对它们各自祖先分布范围和随后范围扩展模式的了解存在很大差异。 北美 Strauzia 属的两种蝇类分别以普通向日葵和菊芋为食，而细长花蛾的毛毛虫则是专门以甘草为食的食草动物。 研究人员正在北美的寄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，以获取历史种群规模变化以及范围扩张的方向和时间的信号。 一般预测是，每种昆虫遗传多样性最高的区域将对应于 EAC 的历史边界，这意味着该区域是每种植物祖先范围的一部分。 第二个期望是，使用遗传数据对人口情景进行的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。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。