Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Cumacean -Omics to Measure Mode of Adaptation to Antarctica (COMMAA)

Cumaceans是一种小型甲壳类动物，俗称逗号虾，生活在海洋水域的泥泞或沙质海底环境中。鲸鱼对鱼类、鸟类、甚至灰鲸的饮食都很重要。这项研究项目正在评估南极洲不同地区的锥形目动物多样性和适应性，并使用分子方法评估这种生物对不断变化的南极地区的适应性。这项研究将大大促进对无脊椎动物对寒冷、稳定的生境的适应以及对这些生境变化的反应的理解。此外，该项目还促进了对海洋生物的了解，这是一种具有全球多样性和重要生物学意义的动物群体。作为该计划的一部分，对早期职业学生和专业人员进行的孜然生物、分子技术和生物信息学方面的有针对性的培训也包括在内。洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆的一个研讨会还将培训另外10名研究生，重点是培训代表不足的群体。项目外展还包括社交媒体，与亚肯色州安克雷奇非常多样化的学区的学校外展，以及创建博物馆活动和在阿拉巴马州自然历史博物馆举办展览。最后，该小组参与与国家海洋科学碗有关的活动，促进了高中生对南极科学学习的广泛参与。第二部分：技术描述这项研究的主要目标是以无脊椎动物作为模式系统来探索无脊椎动物对变化的南极的适应。该项目正在利用综合分类学、功能基因组学、比较基因组学和进化基因组学以及系统发育比较方法来了解南极锥花科植物的真正多样性。该团队正在识别经历扩张、选择或显著差异表达的基因和基因家族，根据转录本和基因组生成一个广泛采样的强大系统发育框架，并探索多样化的速度和时机。该项目正在提供与生物适应南极栖息地有关的基因获得/丢失、正向选择和差异基因表达的重要信息。系统发育学分析为未被充分研究的南大洋锥形目提供了一个强有力的系统发育框架。在这个项目开始时，只公布了这种生物的一个南极转录组。该项目正在生成8个物种的测序基因组，大约70个物种的约250个转录本，以及大约100个物种的大约470个COI和16S扩增子条形码。经过精心策划的形态参考藏品将存放在史密森博物馆、洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆和位于格雷塔点的新西兰国家水和大气研究藏品中，以帮助未来的研究人员识别南极孜然类动物。除了当前项目的直接范围外，极地生物界和无脊椎动物群落的成员将能够利用基因组资源用于其他不同的用途，从PCR引物开发到推断祖先种群的大小。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Part I: General descriptionCumaceans are small crustaceans, commonly known as comma shrimp, that live in muddy or sandy bottom environments in marine waters. Cumaceans are important for the diet of fish, birds, and even grey whales. This research program is assessing cumacean diversity and adaptation in different regions of Antarctica and evaluate this organisms adaptations using molecular methods to a changing Antarctic region. The research stands to significantly advance understanding of invertebrate adaptations to cold, stable habitats and responses to changes in those habitats. In addition, this project is advancing understanding of the biology of Cumacea, a globally diverse and biologically important group of animals. Targeted training of early career students and professionals in cumacean biology, molecular techniques, and bioinformatics is included as part of the program. A workshop at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum will also train 10 additional graduate students, with a focus on training for underrepresented groups. Project outreach also includes social media, outreach to schools in very diverse school districts in Anchorage, AK, and creation of museum events and an exhibit at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Finally, engagement by the team in activities related to the National Ocean Science Bowl promotes broad engagement with high school students for Antarctic science learning. Part II: Technical DescriptionThe overarching goal of this research is to use cumaceans as a model system to explore invertebrate adaptations to the changing Antarctic. This project is leveraging integrative taxonomy, functional, comparative and evolutionary genomics, and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand the true diversity of Cumacea in the Antarctic. The team is identifying genes and gene families experiencing expansions, selection, or significant differential expression, generating a broadly sampled and robust phylogenetic framework for the Antarctic Cumacea based on transcriptomes and genomes, and exploring rates and timing of diversification. The project is providing important information related to gene gain/loss, positive selection, and differential gene expression as a function of adaptation of organisms to Antarctic habitats. Phylogenomic analyses is providing a robust phylogenetic framework for understudied Southern Ocean Cumacea. At the start of this project, only one Antarctic transcriptome was published for this organism. This project is generating sequenced genomes from 8 species, about 250 transcriptomes from about 70 species, and approximately 470 COI and 16S amplicon barcodes from about 100 species. Curated morphological reference collections will be deposited at the Smithsonian, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum and in the New Zealand National Water and Atmospheric Research collection at Greta Point to assist future researchers in identification of Antarctic cumaceans. Beyond the immediate scope of the current project, the genomic resources will be able to be leveraged by members of the polar biology and invertebrate zoology communities for diverse other uses ranging from PCR primer development to inference of ancestral population sizes.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.