NSF PRFB FY 2023: Assessing morphological, behavioral, and genetic impacts of methylmercury on spiders.

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。具体来说，这项研究将评估全球关注的污染物甲基汞（MeHg）对蜘蛛的影响。了解甲基汞的积累及其对生物体的毒性作用，对准确评估甲基汞污染风险具有重要意义。蜘蛛通过食用被甲基汞污染的猎物而暴露于甲基汞，最近被提出作为监测环境中甲基汞的工具；被称为“哨兵”：在组织中积累污染物而没有明显不利影响的生物体。然而，人们对甲基汞对蜘蛛或其他无脊椎动物的毒性知之甚少。该项目的目标是研究甲基汞对蜘蛛行为、生长、繁殖和基因表达的亚致死效应。该研究将促进对环境甲基汞污染对蜘蛛个体影响的科学认识，并预测暴露于甲基汞的蜘蛛群落、其他无脊椎动物和生态系统的影响。该研究项目将直接涉及来自代表性不足社区的本科生和高中生，旨在通过实践研究经验、技能发展和一对一指导，使学生能够追求科学事业。MeHg对蜘蛛的亚致死效应将通过一系列实验室喂养实验（短期、长期和多代饮食暴露）进行测试，并从MeHg高污染和低污染地区对蜘蛛进行实地研究。研究假设，暴露于甲基汞的蜘蛛表现出1)身体、行为和基因表达的影响；2)暴露时间、蜘蛛类群和蜘蛛生命阶段的不同，会产生不同的影响；3)对繁殖、生长和发育的多代影响。亚致死效应的测量将包括多个物理和行为终点（例如，身体状况、猎物捕获、成熟时的大小和产卵），以及通过蜘蛛RNA测序确定的基因表达（差异表达基因的转录组分析）。该研究员的培训将包括转录组测序和数据分析，特别是识别和表征与甲基汞不良反应相关的基因的方法。除了深入了解甲基汞对蜘蛛的毒性机制外，该项目还将有助于了解蜘蛛的基因组和转录组学知识，并为污染物毒理学以外的未来研究提供信息。这项研究将通过计划中的推广项目和教育产品使更广泛的公众受益，这些产品将利用蜘蛛来研究环境污染物。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. Specifically, this research will assess the effects of a contaminant of global concern, Methylmercury (MeHg), on spiders. It is important to understand MeHg accumulation and its toxic effects on organisms to accurately assess risks of MeHg contamination. Spiders are exposed to MeHg by consuming MeHg-contaminated prey and recently were proposed as tools for monitoring MeHg in the environment; called “sentinels”: organisms that accumulate a pollutant in their tissues without significant adverse effects. However, little is known about MeHg toxicity in spiders or other invertebrates. This project’s goal is to investigate sub-lethal effects of MeHg on spiders behavior, growth, reproduction, and gene expression. The proposed study will advance scientific understanding about the impact of environmental MeHg contamination on individual spiders and predict effects on spider communities, other invertebrates, and ecosystems exposed to MeHg. The research program will directly involve undergraduate and high school students from underrepresented communities and is designed to empower students to pursue scientific careers through hands-on research experiences, skills development, and one-on-one mentorship. Sub-lethal effects of MeHg on spiders will be tested through a series of laboratory feeding experiments (short-term, long-term, and multigenerational dietary exposures), and field studies sampling spiders from locations with high and low MeHg contamination. Spiders exposed to MeHg are hypothesized to show 1) physical, behavioral, and gene expression effects, 2) different effects by exposure duration, spider taxa, and spider life stage, and 3) multigenerational effects on reproduction, growth, and development. Measurements of sub-lethal effects will include multiple physical and behavioral endpoints (e.g., body condition, prey capture, size at maturity, and egg production), and gene expression determined by sequencing spider RNA (transcriptome analysis for differentially expressed genes). The fellow’s training will include transcriptome sequencing and data analysis, specifically, methods to identify and characterize genes associated with adverse effects of MeHg. In addition to insights into the mechanisms of MeHg toxicity in spiders, this project will contribute to genomic and transcriptomic knowledge about spiders and inform future studies outside of contaminant toxicology. This research will benefit the broader public through planned outreach programs and educational products around using spiders to studying environmental contaminants.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.