NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: The Roles of Gene Flow and Local Adaptation in Driving Fitness in a Genetically Depauperate Fish

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为《生活规则》领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。这项研究解决了低遗传多样性的孤立种群如何持续关注喉鳟的一个亚种：绿背喉鳟。尽管美钞杀手是科罗拉多州的州鱼，但它几乎灭绝了，只剩下一个幸存的种群和几个从这个种群中重新引入的种群。这个项目试图在景观和种群水平上比较野鸭和近亲之间的遗传多样性，然后将这些数据与在新栖息地恢复种群的能力联系起来。该项目利用了过去的一个实验，在这个实验中，两个亚种被杂交，以确定有助于适应性的基因组特征，并在不淹没亚种特有的遗传特征的情况下提高美钞的遗传多样性。该项目还将把这些方法引入当地一所少数民族大学的课堂，帮助学生掌握这些尖端技术。该项目的目标是将表型性状的遗传基础与其与环境的相互作用联系起来，用于遗传缺失和孤立的鱼类。这项研究将提供一个预测框架，在这个框架中，在三个生态和人口尺度上通过全基因组测序确定的基因组特征与个体适应性有关。首先，它将评估两个亚种的遗传变异，绿背鲑和密切相关的科罗拉多河切喉鳟鱼，并通过遗传环境分析确定与关键环境特征相关的位点。然后，它将关注最近重新引入的种群，以衡量引入时的遗传多样性如何通过表型可塑性或快速适应来预测种群的持久性。最后，将利用这两个亚种及其杂交种的基因组数据来鉴定与近交负荷和负适应性相关的位点。这些数据将揭示遗传变异和环境属性如何表现为个体适应度，以及每个亚种作为遗传多样性的功能适应变化条件的相对能力。最后，该研究员将在当地少数族裔服务机构领导现场和实验模块，目标是引入有利于职业发展和追求STEM高级学位的技能。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. This research addresses how isolated populations with low genetic diversity persist with focus on a subspecies of cutthroat trout: the greenback cutthroat. The greenback cutthroat, despite being Colorado’s state fish, was nearly extirpated and has been reduced to a single surviving population and a handful of reintroduced populations founded from that one population. This project seeks to compare genetic diversity between greenback cutthroat and a close relative at the landscape and population levels and then link those data with the ability for recovery populations in new habitats. The project leverages a past experiment in which the two subspecies were crossed to identify genomic features that contribute to fitness and boost the genetic diversity of greenback cutthroat without swamping the genetic features that are specific to the subspecies. The project will also bring these methods into the classroom at a local minority serving college to help train students in these cutting-edge technologies.The goal of this project is to link the genetic basis of phenotypic traits to their interaction with the environment for a genetically depauperate and isolated fish. This research will provide a predictive framework in which genomic features identified with whole-genome sequencing at three ecological and demographic scales are linked to individual fitness. First, it will assess standing genetic variation in two subspecies, the greenback and the closely related Colorado River cutthroat trout, and identify loci correlated with key environmental features using genetic-environmental analyses. It will then focus on recently reintroduced populations to measure how genetic diversity at introduction predicts the populations persistence via phenotypic plasticity or rapid adaptation. Lastly, genomic data from the two subspecies and their hybrids will be used to identify loci associated with inbreeding load and negative fitness in greenback cutthroat. These data will inform how genetic variation and environmental attributes manifest as individual fitness and the relative ability of each subspecies to adapt to changing conditions as a function of genetic diversity. Finally, the Fellow will lead both field and bench modules at a local, minority serving institution with the goal of introducing skills beneficial to career development and in pursuit of advanced degrees in STEM.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.