NSF PRFB FY 2023: Investigating enhancer and protein divergence at follistatin paralogs underlying genetic assimilation of wing plasticity

这一行动为NSF 2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、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。今天在自然界中可观察到的植物和动物形式的多样性源于积累的形态创新。尽管科学上对这个话题感兴趣，但产生新形式的进化过程仍然被神秘和争论所包围。一个有希望的模式是遗传同化，在这种模式中，从环境诱导的变异(表型可塑性)中出现的新形式稍后可以由基因决定。然而，目前还不清楚这种从环境控制到基因控制的转变可能会如何发生。本项目旨在表征促进遗传同化的分子机制，以加深我们对形态新颖性、多样性和进化的理解。作为一种研究系统，这位研究员将利用豌豆蚜虫，在这种情况下，雌性形式的变异已经通过雄性DNA的变化在基因上被同化。豌豆蚜产生两种类型的无翼形态：母体环境诱导的无性无翼雌性(翅多物性，一种表型可塑性)和遗传决定的无翼雄性(遗传同化)。重要的是，这里使用的速记术语“无翼”不仅描述了翅膀的丧失，还描述了代谢、行为和多种形态特征状态的系统性变化。因此，“无翅”豌豆蚜虫的形态构成了表型新颖性的一个真正例子。转化生长因子-β配体抑制因子卵泡抑素基因的两个副本分别与雄性和雌性的无翅形态决定有关。复制的FS2在无翼雌性中上调，而FS3复制的存在决定了无翼雄性的形态。这两个副本都显示出它们的蛋白质编码和可能的调节区发生了变化。这位研究员将使用尖端的实验技术来表征FS Paralog的顺式调控(目标1)、选择签名(目标2)和蛋白质功能(目标3)的变化，以确定复制和分歧如何促进遗传同化。这一奖项反映了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 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. Today's diversity of plant and animal forms observable in nature arises from accumulated morphological innovations. Despite the scientific interest in this topic, the evolutionary processes that give rise to new forms are still surrounded by mystery and debate. One promising model is genetic assimilation, in which new forms that have emerged from environmentally induced variation (phenotypic plasticity), can later become genetically determined. However, it remains unclear how such a switch from environmental to genetic control might occur. This project aims to characterize the molecular mechanisms facilitating genetic assimilation, to further our understanding of morphological novelty, diversity, and evolution. As a study system, the fellow will utilize the pea aphid, in which a female form variation has been genetically assimilated in males by changes in their DNA. Pea aphids produce two types of wingless morphs: asexual wingless females induced by maternal environment (wing polyphenism, a type of phenotypic plasticity), and genetically determined wingless males (genetic assimilation). Importantly, the shorthand term "wingless" used here describes not only a loss of wings, but a systemic change in metabolic, behavioral, and multiple morphological character states. Thus, "wingless" pea aphid morphs comprise a bona fide example of phenotypic novelty. Two duplicates of the gene follistatin (fs), a TGF-beta ligand inhibitor, are separately involved in male and female wingless morph determination. The duplicate fs2 is upregulated in wingless females, while the presence of the fs3 duplicate determines wingless male morphs. Both duplicates exhibit changes to their protein coding and putative regulatory regions. The fellow will use cutting edge experimental techniques to characterize changes in cis-regulation (Aim 1), signatures of selection (Aim 2), and protein function (Aim 3) at fs paralogs, to determine how duplication and divergence facilitated genetic assimilation.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.