NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: The endocrine and neurogenomic regulation of male parental care strategies

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2022财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。鸣禽在父系抚育方面表现出纬度梯度，南方雄鸟比北方雄鸟对后代的抚育更多。这项研究将利用这种行为的自然变化来解决父亲照顾的生理和神经控制。这名研究员将比较不同纬度的雄性父亲行为，因为它与两种已知的调节父母行为的激素有关，并将研究这些行为在更具父权性和较少父权性的雄性之间的神经控制。这项研究将有助于深入了解父系关爱的进化，以及这些行为是如何在不断变化的生态条件下在种群内部和种群之间得到控制的。该研究员将通过指导志愿者、技术人员和来自代表性不足群体的研究生来实现这些目标，这些志愿者、技术人员和研究生将协助实现这些研究目标，同时在四个研究地点开发和执行独立的研究项目。该研究员将研究睾丸激素和催乳素的变化如何介导雄性生活史策略的变化，并确定雄性家雀（Passer domesticus）中控制父系行为的潜在基因网络。为了将这两种激素的自然变化与雄性孵化行为联系起来，将沿纬度梯度从ND到TX的四个地点对雄性进行采样。预计与南方雄性相比，北方雄性的睾酮水平升高，催乳素抑制，亲代照顾减少。为了确定这些激素在影响亲代行为中的因果作用，睾酮和催乳素将在不同部位进行实验操作。实验表明，阻断睾酮和增加催乳素可以增加亲代行为。最后，将收集孵化雄性、几乎不花时间孵化的雄性和孵化雌性的脑组织，以确定下丘脑中控制雄性孵化行为的潜在基因网络，并确定它们在性别和种群中是否相似。该研究员将通过参与北达科他州的既定计划来刺激竞争性研究组织和NDSU的ROPES计划，从不同的申请者群体中招募技术人员和志愿者。参与者将协助研究员完成研究目标，同时开发和执行独立的研究项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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. Songbirds express a latitudinal gradient in paternal care, with southern males providing more care for offspring than northern males. This research will leverage this natural variation in behavior to address the physiological and neurological control of paternal care. The fellow will compare male paternal behavior across latitudes as it relates to two hormones known to regulate parental behaviors, and will investigate the neurological control of these behaviors between more paternal and less paternal males. This research will add insight into the evolution of paternal care and how these behaviors are governed within and across populations with changing ecological conditions. The fellow will achieve these goals by mentoring volunteers, technicians, and graduate students from underrepresented groups that will assist with these research goals while developing and executing independent research projects at four research sites.The fellow will investigate how variation in testosterone and prolactin mediate variation in male life history strategies and identify potential gene networks governing paternal behaviors in male house sparrows (Passer domesticus). To relate natural variation in these two hormones to male incubation behavior, males will be sampled at four sites along a latitudinal gradient from ND to TX. Northern males are predicted to have elevated testosterone, suppressed prolactin, and reduced parental care relative to southern males. To establish causal roles of these hormones in influencing parental behavior, testosterone and prolactin will be experimentally manipulated across sites. Experimentally blocking testosterone and increasing prolactin is predicted to increase parental behavior. Finally, brain tissue will be collected from incubating males, males that spend little to no time incubating, and incubating females to identify potential gene networks in the hypothalamus that govern male incubation behaviors and determine if they are similar across sexes and populations. The fellow will recruit technicians and volunteers from a diverse group of applicants by engaging with the North Dakota’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research organization and NDSU’s ROPES program. Participants will assist the fellow with research goals while developing and executing independent research projects.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.