NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The genetics, physiology and evolution of diapause

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：滞育的遗传学、生理学和进化

• 批准号: 2208932
• 负责人: Karin van der Burg
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: van der Burg, Karin R
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2208932&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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. Specifically, the fellow will investigate the genetics, physiology, and variation of a biological phenomenon called diapause. Diapause is a period of suspended or arrested development during an insect’s life cycle. The fellow will use the eastern sprice budworm to study diapause. The spruce budworm is a moth species living in the boreal forest across northern America, covering a range from New England to Alaska, and mostly uses diapause to survive harsh winters. The fellow will investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying variation in diapausing moths. This work is important because the spruce budworm is one of the most destructive pest species in North America, and its 35-year cyclical outbreaks have devastating effects on the lumber industry as well as the boreal ecosystem and carbon dynamics. The proposed activity will help us understand how diapause changes across it’s range, which will be crucial for predictive models of budworm range expansion and benefit a robust pest management plan. This in turn will aid the communities depending on the boreal forests. Furthermore, the fellow will engage in several outreach activities to engage high school and college level students with insect research.Diapause is a fundamental feature in the life cycle of many insects, as it allows insects to survive temporary harsh environmental conditions. Precise timing and regulation of the diapause phenotype can have landscape level consequences, both good (i.e. insects can be important food sources), and bad (i.e. harmful pest species). The fellow will (1) characterize the physiological, transcriptomic and chromatin landscape changes that differentiate diapausing and non-diapausing spruce budworm, (2) determine the genetic basis of this change in the diapause phenotype, and (3), investigate how natural selection acts on the diapause specific regulatory landscape across the range. This study integrates across multiple science disciplines including physiology, functional genomics, genetic mapping and population genetics to study the diapause phenotype. Results from this study will allow us to predict how the diapause phenotype is regulated at different levels, and how natural selection acts on these regulatory mechanisms. The fellow will receive training in integrating physiological and genetic research in an ecological relevant species. Furthermore, the fellow will organize a functional genomics workshop to make advanced molecular techniques available to non-model researchers.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.

该行动资助了2022财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，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。具体来说，该研究员将研究遗传学，生理学和称为滞育的生物现象的变化。滞育是昆虫生命周期中发育停滞的一段时期。这位研究员将用东方春芽虫来研究滞育。云杉芽虫是一种生活在横跨北方美洲的北方森林中的蛾类，覆盖了从新英格兰到阿拉斯加的范围，大多数情况下利用滞育来度过严冬。该研究员将研究滞育蛾变异的分子机制。这项工作很重要，因为云杉芽虫是北美最具破坏性的害虫物种之一，其35年的周期性爆发对木材工业以及北方生态系统和碳动态产生了毁灭性影响。拟议的活动将帮助我们了解滞育在其范围内的变化，这对于预测蠕虫范围扩张的模型至关重要，并有利于制定强有力的害虫管理计划。这反过来又将帮助依赖北方森林的社区。此外，该研究员还将参与一些外展活动，让高中和大学生参与昆虫研究。滞育是许多昆虫生命周期的一个基本特征，因为它使昆虫能够在短暂的恶劣环境条件下生存。滞育表型的精确定时和调节可以产生景观水平的后果，既好的（即昆虫可以是重要的食物来源），也坏的（即有害的害虫物种）。该研究员将（1）表征区分滞育和非滞育云杉芽虫的生理，转录组和染色质景观变化，（2）确定滞育表型这种变化的遗传基础，（3）调查自然选择如何作用于滞育特定的调控景观。本研究整合了生理学、功能基因组学、遗传作图和群体遗传学等多个学科，对滞育表型进行了研究。从这项研究的结果将使我们能够预测滞育表型是如何在不同的水平上进行调节，以及自然选择如何对这些调节机制。该研究员将接受在生态相关物种中整合生理学和遗传学研究的培训。此外，该研究员将组织一个功能基因组学研讨会，使先进的分子技术提供给非模型研究人员。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。