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

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。在我们这个快速变化的世界里，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，温度的增加和变化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，物种可能会通过基因适应这些压力，但它们也可能通过不涉及一代甚至跨代基因的变化来更快地适应。分析这些不同形式的适应和驯化何时应该得到支持，以及可能采用什么机制，对于预测物种在气候变化下的生存状况至关重要。有大量的文献概述了在什么样的环境条件下，我们应该期望可塑性和遗传适应性更受青睐。然而，对于哪些条件有利于不同形式的可塑性（发展性、可逆性驯化、跨代）以及这些不同形式如何相互作用以产生最佳表型，人们知之甚少。使用实验室饲养的共同飞溅池桡足动物种群，这些种群被特别选择以促进不同的可塑性模式，该项目将能够从经验上测试理论预测，并有助于我们理解基因组如何与环境相互作用以产生适应性表型。此外，围绕这些形式的可塑性背后的机制的知识存在差距。表观遗传标记（即DNA甲基化）可能会导致基因表达的差异，从而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历史（实验室饲养和野生种群）动物的表观遗传特征的研究，以及来自该研究系统的广泛基因组和转录组数据，该研究员将研究促成这些大规模生态和进化模式的分子机制。此外，该研究员将通过领导基于课程的本科研究体验（CURE）和参与社区外展和参与，努力扩大对科学的参与。该研究员还将通过分享该项目的结果（序列、数据集）和过程（代码、管道），参与公开透明的科学。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. 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.