NSF PRFB FY 2023: Development across evolutionary time at a single-cell resolution

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2023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。从单细胞卵子到成年动物的发育依赖于数千个基因的协调和控制，使它们能够在正确的细胞中在正确的时间开启和关闭。这些基因的调节如何在生物体之间通过进化而改变，并导致地球上生命的多样性，仍然是生物学的一个基本和未解之谜。对近亲动物之间控制发育的基因调控的比较表明，尽管表面上相似，但控制发育的方式却有很大不同。该项目旨在深入了解13种密切相关和相似的蛔虫的基因调控差异程度，以揭示是什么允许一些基因改变而另一些基因保持不变。总的来说，该项目将把这些蛔虫作为一个模型系统，以更广泛地扩展我们对动物发育如何进化的认识。该研究员将使用单细胞测序，通过比较不同物种在胚胎发育过程中同源细胞和组织的转录组，来测量线虫基因表达在进化时间中的时空差异。该研究员将采用系统方法，通过建立和比较13个隐杆线虫物种的发育分子图谱，帮助阐明基因调控网络进化的制约因素。多物种单细胞图谱将允许确定整个隐杆线虫属的细胞和基因表达模式的分化率，以测试进化和发育的基本模型。此外，利用通过该项目获得的数据和知识，该研究员将通过一系列计算生物学培训讲习班，为来自代表性不足背景的夏季本科生研究人员培训下一代科学家。该研究员还将直接在实验室培养多样化的暑期本科生研究人员。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 2023, 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. Development from a single-celled egg to an adult animal relies on the coordination and control of thousands of genes that allows them to be turned on and off in the right cell at the right time. How the regulation of these genes changes between organisms through evolution, and results in Earth’s diversity of life remains a fundamental and unanswered question of biology. Comparisons of the gene regulation that controls development between closely related animals reveals that despite superficial similarity, how development is controlled can vary significantly. This project aims to provide insight into the extent by which gene regulation differs across 13 species of closely related and similar roundworms in order to reveal what allows some genes to change and others to stay the same. Overall, the project will use these roundworms as a model system to expand our knowledge of how development evolves across animals more broadly.The fellow will use single-cell sequencing to measure the spatiotemporal divergence of gene expression across evolutionary time within the Caenorhabditis nematodes by comparing the transcriptomes of homologous cells and tissues between species across embryonic development. Taking a systems approach, the fellow will help elucidate the constraints on gene regulatory network evolution by building and comparing molecular atlases of development for 13 Caenorhabditis species. The multispecies single-cell atlases will allow for the determination of the rate of divergence of cell and gene expression patterns across the Caenorhabditis genus to test fundamental models in evolution and development. Additionally, using the data and knowledge gained through this project, the fellow will help train the next generation of scientists through a series of computational biology training workshops for summer undergraduate researchers from underrepresented backgrounds. The fellow will also directly train a diverse group of summer undergraduate researchers in the laboratory.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.