ANT LIA: Collaborative Research: Evolutionary Patterns and Mechanisms of Trait Diversification in the Antarctic Notothenioid Radiation

ANT LIA：合作研究：南极诺托尼类辐射特征多样化的进化模式和机制

• 批准号: 2324998
• 负责人: Jacob Daane
• 金额: $ 114.15万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2324998&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ANT; LIA; Collaborative; Research; Evolutionary

Part I: Nontechnical description The ecologically important notothenioid fish of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica will be studied to address questions central to polar, evolutionary, and adaptational biology. The rapid diversification of the notothenioids into 120 species following a period of Antarctic glaciation and cooling of the Southern Ocean is thought to have been facilitated by key evolutionary innovations, including antifreeze glycoproteins to prevent freezing and bone reduction to increase buoyancy. In this project, a large dataset of genomic sequences will be used to evaluate the genetic mechanisms that underly the broad pattern of novel trait evolution in these fish, including traits relevant to human diseases (e.g., bone density, renal function, and anemia). The team will develop new STEM-based research and teaching modules for undergraduate education at Northeastern University. The work will provide specific research training to scholars at all levels, including a post-doctoral researcher, a graduate student, undergraduate students, and high school students. The team will also contribute to public outreach, including, in part, the develop of teaching videos in molecular evolutionary biology and accompanying educational supplements.Part II: Technical descriptionThe researchers will leverage their comprehensive notothenioid phylogenomic dataset comprising 250,000 protein-coding exons and conserved non-coding elements across 44 ingroup and 2 outgroup species to analyze the genetic origins of three iconic notothenioid traits: (1) loss of erythrocytes by the icefish clade in a cold, stable and highly-oxygenated marine environment; (2) reduction in bone mass and retention of juvenile skeletal characteristics as buoyancy mechanisms to facilitate foraging; and (3) loss of kidney glomeruli to retain energetically expensive antifreeze glycoproteins. The team will first track patterns of change in erythroid-related genes throughout the notothenioid phylogeny. They will then examine whether repetitive evolution of a pedomorphic skeleton in notothenioids is based on parallel or divergent evolution of genetic regulators of heterochrony. Third, they will determine whether there is mutational bias in the mechanisms of loss and re-emergence of kidney glomeruli. Finally, identified genetic mechanisms of evolutionary change will be validated by experimental testing using functional genomic strategies in the zebrafish model system.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.

第一部分：非技术描述 将研究南极洲周围南大洋中具有重要生态意义的南鱼类鱼类，以解决极地生物学、进化生物学和适应生物学的核心问题。在经历了一段南极冰期和南大洋变冷之后，Notothenioids迅速多样化为120个物种，这被认为是由关键的进化创新促进的，包括防止冻结的抗冻糖蛋白和减少骨质以增加浮力。在该项目中，将使用大量基因组序列数据集来评估这些鱼类新性状进化的广泛模式下的遗传机制，包括与人类疾病相关的性状（例如骨密度、肾功能和贫血）。该团队将为东北大学的本科教育开发新的基于 STEM 的研究和教学模块。该工作将为各级学者提供具体的研究培训，包括博士后研究员、研究生、本科生和高中生。该团队还将为公众推广做出贡献，部分包括开发分子进化生物学教学视频和随附的教育补充材料。第二部分：技术描述研究人员将利用其全面的 notothenioid 系统发育数据集（包括 44 个内群体和 2 个外群体物种的 250,000 个蛋白质编码外显子和保守非编码元素）来分析三个标志性物种的遗传起源。 冰鱼类特征：（1）冰鱼分支在寒冷、稳定和高氧海洋环境中会损失红细胞； (2) 减少骨量并保留幼年骨骼特征作为浮力机制以促进觅食； (3) 肾小球损失以保留能量昂贵的抗冻糖蛋白。该团队将首先追踪整个 notothenioid 系统发育中红细胞相关基因的变化模式。然后，他们将研究notothenioids中幼形骨架的重复进化是否基于异时性遗传调节因子的平行或发散进化。第三，他们将确定肾小球丢失和重新出现的机制是否存在突变偏差。最后，已确定的进化变化的遗传机制将通过在斑马鱼模型系统中使用功能基因组策略进行实验测试来验证。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。