NSF PRFB FY 2023: Mechanisms and evolutionary maintenance of thermal plasticity and adaptation in a splash pool copepod

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。在我们瞬息万变的世界中，了解物种如何以及何时能够适应压力变得越来越重要。特别是，不断上升和更加多变的温度是影响生理性能和物种分布的主要威胁。我们知道，随着时间的推移，物种可能会在基因上适应这些压力，但他们也可能通过不涉及一代人甚至跨代人的基因变化来更快地适应。分析这些不同形式的适应和驯化何时应该受到青睐，以及可能采用的机制，对于预测物种在气候变化下的表现至关重要。有大量文献概述了在什么环境条件下，我们应该预期可塑性和遗传适应会受到青睐。然而，关于哪些条件有利于不同形式的可塑性(发育、可逆驯化、跨代)以及这些不同形式如何相互作用以创造最佳表型，人们知之甚少。使用实验室饲养的常见溅水池桡足类动物的种群，这些种群已经被专门选择来促进不同的可塑性模式，这个项目将能够经验性地检验理论预测，并有助于我们理解基因组如何与环境相互作用来产生适应表型。此外，围绕这些形式的可塑性背后的机制，还有一个知识缺口。表观遗传标记(即DNA甲基化)可能导致基因表达的差异，使物种能够调整其表型和生理以应对压力。通过结合对已知应激暴露和进化史(包括实验室饲养和野生种群)的动物的表观遗传学特征的检查，以及来自该研究系统的广泛的基因组和转录组数据，该研究员将检查有助于这些广泛的生态和进化模式的分子机制。此外，该研究员将努力通过领导以课程为基础的本科生研究体验(CURE)以及通过参与社区外展和参与来扩大对科学的参与。该研究员还将通过共享该项目的结果(序列、数据集)和过程(代码、管道)来从事公开和透明的科学。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. In our rapidly changing world, it is becoming more and more important to understand how and when species will be able to adapt to stressors. In particular, increasing and more variable temperatures are a major threat that impacts physiological performance and species distributions. We know that species may adapt genetically to these stresses over time, but they may also acclimate more rapidly through changes that do not involve genes within a generation or even across generations. Parsing apart when these various forms of adaptation and acclimation should be favored and what mechanisms may be employed are crucial to predicting how species should fare under climate change.There is a large body of literature outlining under what environmental conditions we should expect plasticity versus genetic adaptation to be favored. However, less is known about what conditions favor different forms of plasticity (developmental, reversible acclimation, transgenerational) and how these various forms may interact to create optimal phenotypes. Using lab-reared populations of a common splash pool copepod that have been specifically selected to promote different patterns of plasticity, this project will be able to test theoretical predictions empirically and contribute to our understanding of how genomes interact with the environment to produce adaptive phenotypes. Additionally, there is a gap in knowledge surrounding the mechanisms behind these forms of plasticity. Epigenetic marks (i.e., DNA methylation) may be driving differences in gene expression that allow for species to adjust their phenotypes and physiology in response to stress. By combining an examination of the epigenetic signature of animals with known stress exposures and evolutionary histories (both lab-reared and wild populations) along with the extensive genomic and transcriptomic data from this study system, the fellow will examine the molecular mechanisms contributing to these broad-scale ecological and evolutionary patterns. Additionally, the fellow will strive to broaden participation in science by leading a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) and by participating in community outreach and engagement. The fellow will also engage in open and transparent science by sharing both results (sequences, data sets) and processes (code, pipelines) of this project.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.