NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Investigating the role of thermal stress response in facilitating adaptation in camel spiders

这项行动资助了2023财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。沙漠生物进化出了独特的策略，可以在没有营养的情况下长期生存，特别是在极端高温等压力条件下。有趣的是，与其他适应沙漠的生物不同，骆驼蜘蛛具有高代谢和能量效率低下的穴居习惯。研究员将使用骆驼蜘蛛作为模型来了解这种意想不到的生物学，并研究分子基础和在一系列气候条件下耐热性的进化。 了解生态适应模式，骆驼蜘蛛如何在沙漠条件下生活，对于预测世界上一些最恶劣栖息地的未来变化非常重要。培训目标包括在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校和耶路撒冷的希伯来大学获得基因组测序和生物信息学方面的新技能。通过这项奖学金的支持也将提供研究员的机会，公共宣传，科学教育，并指导下一代有抱负的科学家从代表性不足的background.This研究将调查之间的关联压力相关的蛋白质和生态适应在一组蜘蛛类动物通常被称为骆驼蜘蛛。与其他蛛形纲动物相反，骆驼蜘蛛在极端环境中进化出独特的行为，因此可能进化出一种全新的机制来承受高压力环境。应激蛋白表达模式的差异，在不同程度的热条件下，可能会促进适应性分歧，在这一组。使用下一代测序技术，研究员将1）研究应激相关蛋白的表达动态和作用，以促进骆驼蜘蛛在以色列气候梯度上的多样化，2）探索螯合物中这些蛋白质的功能差异，以确定骆驼蜘蛛是否已经进化出应对应激的替代机制。了解胁迫耐受性的分子进化对于预测变化环境中的未来影响至关重要。此外，该奖项将支持研究员为公众宣传、来自代表性不足社区的K-12学生开发可访问的教育材料，并将支持研究员为来自不同背景的本科生创造研究机会。该奖项反映了NSF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, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Desert organisms have evolved unique strategies to survive long periods without nutrients, especially under stressful conditions like extreme heat. Interestingly, unlike other desert adapted organisms, camel spiders have a high metabolism and energy inefficient burrowing habits. The Fellow will use camel spiders as a model to understand this unexpected biology and investigate the molecular basis and evolution of thermal tolerance across a range of climates. Understanding patterns of ecological adaptation, how camel spiders live in desert conditions, is important to predict future change in some of the harshest habitats in the world. The training objectives include acquiring new skills in genomic sequencing and bioinformatics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Support through this fellowship will also provide the Fellow with opportunities for public outreach, science education, and mentoring the next generation of aspiring scientists from underrepresented backgrounds.This research will investigate the association between stress-related proteins and ecological adaptation in a group of arachnids commonly known as camel spiders. Contrary to other arachnids, camel spiders have evolved unique behaviors in extreme environments, thus may have evolved a completely novel mechanism to withstand high stress environments. Differences in expression patterns of stress proteins in response to varying levels of thermal conditions may be facilitating adaptive divergence in this group. Using next-generation sequencing techniques, the Fellow will 1) investigate the expression dynamics and role of stress-related proteins in promoting diversification of camel spiders across a climate gradient in Israel and 2) explore the functional divergence, in a phylogenomic context, of such proteins within chelicerates to determine if camel spiders have evolved an alternative mechanism in response to stress. Understanding the molecular evolution of stress tolerance is essential to predicting future impacts in changing environments. Additionally, this award will support the Fellow in developing accessible educational material for public outreach, K-12 students from underrepresented communities, and will support the Fellow in creating research opportunities for undergraduates from diverse backgrounds.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.