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

美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后奖学金：基因流和局部适应在促进基因退化鱼类健康中的作用

• 批准号: 2209230
• 负责人: Morgan Sparks
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Sparks, Morgan
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209230&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Roles

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.

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。这项研究阐述了遗传多样性较低的孤立种群如何持续存在，并将重点放在刀鱼的一个亚种上：绿背鲑鱼。尽管美洲狮是科罗拉多州的州鱼，但它几乎被灭绝了，只剩下一个幸存的种群和几个重新引入的种群。该项目试图在景观和种群水平上比较美洲斑羚和近亲的遗传多样性，然后将这些数据与在新栖息地恢复种群的能力联系起来。该项目利用过去的一项实验，即两个亚种进行杂交，以确定有助于适应和提高绿背刀鱼遗传多样性的基因组特征，而不会淹没亚种特有的遗传特征。该项目还将把这些方法引入当地一所少数民族服务学院的课堂，以帮助培训学生使用这些尖端技术。该项目的目标是将表型特征的遗传基础与它们与环境的互动联系起来，以获得基因退化和孤立的鱼类。这项研究将提供一个预测框架，在这个框架中，通过全基因组测序在三个生态和人口尺度上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--绿背鱼和关系密切的科罗拉多河鲑鱼--的现有遗传变异，并利用遗传-环境分析确定与关键环境特征相关的基因座。然后将重点放在最近重新引入的种群上，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，来自这两个亚种及其杂交后代的基因组数据将被用来识别与近交负荷和负适合度相关的座位。这些数据将告知遗传变异和环境属性如何表现为个体适应性以及每个亚种作为遗传多样性的函数适应不断变化的条件的相对能力。最后，这位研究员将在当地的少数族裔服务机构领导实地和板凳模块，目标是引入有益于职业发展的技能，并追求STEM的高级学位。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。