Postdoctoral Fellowship: OCE-PRF: The genetic basis of disease resistance in the critically endangered black abalone (Haliotis cracherodii)

黑鲍是一种大型贝壳软体动物，发现于加利福尼亚州海岸的岩石潮汐地带。长期以来，这些动物一直是人类宝贵的食物来源，这些贝壳在加利福尼亚州的早期和现代人类中都扮演了许多文化角色。由于过度捕捞和最近一种毁灭性疾病--“枯萎综合症”的传播，该物种现已濒临灭绝。这种疾病导致该物种的数量减少了高达99%。最近的研究表明，幸存的种群对这种疾病表现出一定的抵抗力，但这种抵抗力的机制及其与当地环境的关系尚不清楚。该项目旨在利用古代贝壳和现代鲍鱼来鉴定抗萎缩症的遗传基础。本研究结果对该珍稀物种的生存和恢复具有指导意义。与州和联邦渔业管理人员的定期沟通将为养护工作提供信息。该项目将通过加州大学圣克鲁斯分校(UCSC)西摩海洋发现中心和参与鲍鱼贝壳考古的土著社区支持公众参与。这项研究还将为南加州大学的学生提供多种类型的培训机会，这是一所为拉美裔服务的机构。该项目旨在通过黑鲍生物学、种群历史和当地环境变化的镜头来了解适应枯萎综合征的遗传基础。极端的自然选择事件可以导致在可观察到的时间尺度上发生的快速进化。在像黑鲍和许多其他海洋生物这样的历史上规模庞大的泛栖种群中，目前还不清楚这种适应过程将如何进行，特别是在渔业介导的衰落和空间变量选择的背景下。这项研究将通过研究种群基因组水平上的黑鲍如何随着枯萎综合症的快速传播而发生变化，从而大大有助于我们对这一过程的理解。该项目有三个主要目标：1)使用从鲍鱼壳中获得的古代DNA来确定正在选择的遗传基因座，以应对枯萎综合症；2)对物种范围内的种群进行转录分析，以确定与基因表达和当地环境变化相关的选定基因座；以及3)测试活鲍鱼在普通花园环境中的表现，测试被选基因座上的不同基因型别是否有助于当今种群的局部适应。总之，该项目产生的资源和成果将解决有关海洋生物适应遗传学的关键问题。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。

The black abalone is a large shelled mollusk found in rocky tidal areas along the California coast. These animals have long been a prized food source for humans, and the shells have served many cultural roles for both early and modern humans in California. The species is now near extinction due to a combination of overfishing and the recent spread of a devastating disease – ‘withering syndrome’ – that has reduced populations by as much as 99%. Recent work has shown that surviving populations exhibit some resistance to the disease, but the mechanism of this resistance and how it relates to the local environment is poorly understood. This project aims to use ancient shells and modern abalone to identify the genetic basis of resistance to withering syndrome. The results of this research can guide the survival and recovery of this valued species. Regular communication with state and federal fisheries managers will inform conservation efforts. The project will support public engagement through the University of California Santa Cruz's (UCSC) Seymour Marine Discovery Center and the Indigenous Communities involved with abalone shell archaeology. The research will also provide multiple types of training opportunities for students at UCSC, which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution.This project aims to understand the genetic basis of adaptation to withering syndrome through the lens of black abalone biology, population history, and local environmental variation. Extreme natural selection events can result in rapid evolution occurring on observable time scales. In historically large panmictic populations like the black abalone – and many other marine organisms – it is unclear how this adaptive process will proceed, especially against a backdrop of fisheries- mediated decline and spatially variable selection. This research will contribute substantially to our understanding of this process by examining how, at the population genomic level, black abalone have changed in response to the rapid spread of withering syndrome. The project has three primary objectives: 1) Use ancient DNA obtained from abalone shells to identify genetic loci under selection in response to withering syndrome; 2) Apply transcriptomic analyses to populations across the species’ range to home in on selected loci associated with changes in gene expression and local environment; and 3) Assay the performance of live abalone in a common garden setting testing whether different genotypes at loci under selection are contributing to local adaptation in today’s populations. Altogether, the resources and results generated by this project will address key questions about the genetics of adaptation in marine organisms.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.