NSF PRFB FY 2023: The impact of changes in genome structure on diversification in adaptive radiation.

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。该项目的目的是研究遗传组织的变化如何干扰繁殖和快速适应环境，从而推动动物多样性的进化。这位研究员将使用基因组测序、染色体作图和北美蜥蜴之间DNA变化模式的比较来研究染色体变化如何可能引发不同群体之间的差异，即使这些群体是在同一地点发现的。通过这样做，这项工作将阐明生物多样性是如何产生和维持的，这些发现在这个生物多样性丧失和全球变化的时代特别紧迫。通过与该研究员所在机构的学生接触，并进行实地考察，这项工作还将有助于为所有背景的人扩大参与科学的途径。我们对物种形成理解中的一个主要差距涉及最初扰乱适应性分化的谱系之间的基因流动的机制。该项目将通过研究基因组组织的变化可能在适应性辐射期间作为物种形成的早期驱动因素所起的作用，为这个问题提供新的线索。在这个项目的过程中，该研究员将生成高质量的参考基因组，应用共线作图和细胞遗传学技术来检测结构变化的特征，并测试选择和进化速度变化的证据。这项工作将集中在Anolis蜥蜴的一个支系上，作为一个案例研究，以揭示管理主要多样性爆发的一般原理，因为现有的遗传变异通过染色体分裂和融合暴露在不同的选择制度下。在执行这一项目时，研究员将接受与研究目标相关的方法培训，并通过研究指导和基于机构的计划扩大学生获得科学培训的机会。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。

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. The aim of this project is to examine how changes in genetic organization can interfere with reproduction and fast-track adaptation to the environment, driving the evolution of animal diversity. The Fellow will use genome sequencing, chromosome mapping, and comparison of patterns of DNA change among North American lizards to study how chromosome changes may initiate divergence between groups even when those groups are found in the same place. In doing so, this work will illuminate how biodiversity arises and is maintained, findings that are particularly urgent in this age of biodiversity loss and global change. Through engagement with students at the Fellow’s host institution and while conducting fieldwork, this work will also help to expand avenues for participation in science for people of all backgrounds.A major gap in our understanding of speciation concerns the mechanisms that initially disrupt gene flow among adaptively-diverging lineages. This project will shed new light on this question by investigating the role that changes in genome organization may play as early drivers of speciation during adaptive radiation. Over the course of this project, the Fellow will generate high-quality reference genomes, apply synteny mapping and cytogenetic techniques to detect signatures of structural changes, and test for evidence of selection and shifts in evolutionary rates. This work will focus on a clade within Anolis lizards as a case study to uncover general principles governing major bursts of diversification as standing genetic variation becomes exposed to different selection regimes through chromosomal fission and fusion. While carrying out this project, the Fellow will receive training in the methods involved with the aims of the study and expand access to scientific training for students through both research mentorship and institution-based programs.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.