NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Integrating Phenotypic and Genomic Data across Multiple Hybrid Zones to Understand the Evolution of Reproductive Isolation in Snakes

这一行动为NSF 2022财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。进化生物学领域已经成为促进我们对产生和维持地球上生命多样性的机制的理解的工具。这项研究将以响尾蛇作为研究系统，通过研究在物种形成过程中早期促进谱系分化的机制来了解物种形成过程。该项目的重点是了解杂交物种如何维持部分生殖隔离，以及各种进化过程在形成生殖隔离中的作用。了解这些机制对于扩大目前关于物种如何在自然界中产生以及不同进化过程的作用如何随着物种形成过程的进行而变化的知识是重要的。此外，该研究员将参与培训来自代表不足群体的本科生，学习与这项研究相关的方法和理论。基因组和相关数据集将被公布并免费提供给其他人，以加强对不同受众的公开宣传，并推动科学界未来的研究。该项目将使用来自西部响尾蛇物种复合体物种的全基因组和RNA测序，通过比较多个杂交区，了解有助于生殖隔离的各种进化机制的作用，从而研究可能支配物种形成过程的广泛的“生命规则”。这位研究员将测试基因组不亲和性和其他过程在驱动生殖隔离方面的作用的假设，并测试所发现的模式是否可以跨多个不同的杂交区域进行预测。这位研究员还将通过整合基因组、基因表达、表型和环境数据来检验这一假设，即相似的障碍性状及其潜在的基因组座位影响不同杂交区的杂交适合度。这些综合分析将被用来理解性状与其背后的基因座之间的关系，以及性状和潜在基因座在杂交适合度和生殖隔离中所起的作用。该项目将包括对该研究员进行生物信息学和物种形成理论方面的具体培训，以及组织公共外展活动和研究座谈会；这些活动包括让STEM学科中代表性不足的群体的学生参与。该奖项反映了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。

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. The field of evolutionary biology has become instrumental in advancing our understanding of the mechanisms that generate and maintain the diversity of life on the planet. This research will use rattlesnakes as a study system to understand the process of speciation by studying the mechanisms that promote lineage divergence early in this process. The project focuses on understanding how hybridizing species maintain partial reproductive isolation, and the roles of various evolutionary processes in shaping reproductive isolation. Understanding these mechanisms is important for expanding current knowledge of how species arise in nature, and how the roles of distinct evolutionary processes may shift as the speciation process proceeds. Additionally, the Fellow will be involved in training undergraduates from underrepresented groups in methods and theory related to this research. Genomes and related datasets will be published and made freely available to others in order to enhance public outreach to diverse audiences as well as advancing future investigations by the scientific community.This project will use whole genome and RNA sequencing from species of the Western Rattlesnake species complex to understand the roles of various evolutionary mechanisms that contribute to reproductive isolation by comparing multiple hybrid zones and thereby investigating broad “rules of life” that may govern the process of speciation. The Fellow will test hypotheses for the roles of genomic incompatibilities and other processes in driving reproductive isolation, and test if discovered patterns are predictable across multiple, distinct hybrid zones. The Fellow will also test the hypothesis that similar barrier traits and their underlying genomic loci impact hybrid fitness in distinct hybrid zones by integrating genomic, gene expression, phenotypic, and environmental data. These integrated analyses will be used to understand the relationships between traits and the loci that underlie them, and the roles that traits and underlying loci play in hybrid fitness and reproductive isolation. This project will involve specific training of the Fellow in bioinformatics and speciation theory, and the organization of public outreach events and research symposia; these activities include involvement of students from groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines.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.