NSF PRFB FY 2023: Unlocking the genetic basis of structural coloration

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。动物着色是研究进化的理想性状，本研究探讨了动物着色的遗传基础。动物着色分为色素和结构色。颜料，通常是红色和黄色，是直接吸收和反射不同颜色的光的小颗粒。结构颜色，通常是蓝色，是由组织内不同细胞层反射的光相互作用引起的。色素颜色通常具有简单的遗传控制机制，但结构颜色的遗传基础才刚刚开始被理解。这项研究将利用蜥蜴和蛇的独特物种，这些物种独立进化出蓝色结构与红色或黄色色素的变化，以解开它们的遗传基础。该研究员将积极招募、培训和指导来自科学领域代表性不足群体的本科生，重点关注遗传实验室技术和其他实用主题，如编码技能、阅读原始文献和职业发展。他将在小学教授进化生物学，并开发一个使用彩色蜥蜴模型的教学模块。本研究的主要目标是1)了解结构颜色的基因组基础以及相关的调节和细胞变化，2)在越来越大的系统发育尺度上测试保守的变化。本研究将首先关注加利福尼亚的gilberti Plestiodon skink lizards，该蜥蜴表现出红色色素和蓝色结构尾色的变化，并且最近获得了高质量的基因组测序。他将比较100多个基因组，以确定构成颜色结构的基因组区域，然后研究相关的基因表达变化和相应的颜色产生细胞的细胞解剖结构。随着个体年龄的增长，它们会失去颜色，并汇聚到相同的成人表型上，研究人员将利用这一点来评估个体发生的颜色变化是否受到与多态性相同的调节途径的控制。接下来，研究员将研究保守的基因组区域是否构成结构颜色多态性的基础，使用全基因组测序在蜥蜴和蛇的系统发育尺度上复制颜色多态性系统。最后，该研究员将比较公共数据库中的基因组，以测试来自基因组测序的候选位点是否预测了明亮结构颜色的存在或缺失。这项研究发展了对进化可重复性的理解，并提供了一个框架来预测复杂性状的遗传基础，这可以应用于人类医学和动物保护中的重要问题。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. This research investigates the genetic basis of animal coloration, which is an ideal trait for studying evolution. Animal coloration is divided into pigments and structural colors. Pigments, often red and yellow, are small particles that directly absorb and reflect light of different colors. Structural colors, often blue, are caused by the interaction of light reflecting off different cellular layers inside the tissue. Pigment colors often have simple genetic control mechanisms, but the genetic basis of structural colors is only beginning to be understood. This research will leverage unique species of lizards and snakes that independently evolved variation in blue structural vs. red or yellow pigment color to unlock their genetic basis. The fellow will actively recruit, train, and mentor undergraduates from underrepresented groups in science, focusing on genetic lab techniques and other practical topics such as coding skills, reading primary literature, and career development. The fellow will work in elementary schools to teach evolutionary biology and develop a teaching module using colorful lizard models.The primary objectives of this research are to 1) understand the genomic basis of structural color and associated regulatory and cellular changes, and 2) test for conserved changes across increasing phylogenetic scales. This research will first focus on Plestiodon gilberti skink lizards in California which display red pigmentary and blue structural tail color variation and recently had a high-quality genome sequenced. The fellow will compare more than 100 genomes to pinpoint the genomic regions that underlie structural color, then investigate associated gene expression changes and corresponding cellular anatomy of color-producing cells. As individuals age they lose their color and converge on the same adult phenotype, which the fellow will leverage to assess if ontogenetic color change is controlled by the same regulatory pathways as polymorphism. Next, the fellow will investigate if conserved genomic regions underlie structural color polymorphism using whole genome sequencing on replicated color polymorphic systems at increasing phylogenetic scales across lizards and snakes. Finally, the fellow will compare genomes in public databases to test if candidate loci from genomic sequencing predict the presence or absence of bright structural colors. This research develops an understanding of the repeatability of evolution and provides a framework to predict the genetic basis of complex traits that can be applied to important problems in human medicine and animal conservation.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.