Contrasting environmental and genetic controls of alternative phenotypes

描述(由申请人提供)：这项拟议的研究解决了生物学中的一个基本问题：环境和基因如何相互作用来产生表型？豌豆蚜虫是一种新兴的基因组模式系统，其有翅或无翅的成虫表型显著不同，这是由环境条件诱导的无性雌性(多态)和雄性的单一未知遗传位点(多态)诱导的。此外，雌翅多态的遗传变异与雄翅的多态分离，表明多态和多态的发育网络并不是独立的。我建议(1)定位和鉴定雄性多态基因，以确定雄性多态的发育遗传学基础；(2)表征无性雌性对翅膀诱导刺激的转录和代谢反应，以确定雌性多态的发育遗传学基础；(3)使用系统生物学方法将(1)和(2)的结果联系起来，以提供环境信号和遗传信号如何相互作用以产生基本相似的成体替代形态的连贯图景。该奖项为期一年的指导阶段专注于开发一个在系统和网络生物学方面表现出色的培训环境中涉及的生物系统的整体观点：南加州大学分子和计算生物学系Sergey Nuzhdin博士的实验室。在辅导期结束后，我将过渡到一家学术研究机构的终身教职。相关性：所有的表型，从我们的身高、体重到我们的疾病易感性，都是我们的基因和环境之间复杂的相互作用的结果。该项目旨在阐明在表型产生过程中整合环境和遗传信号的基本规则。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research addresses a fundamental question in biology: how do the environment and genotype interact to produce the phenotype? The pea aphid, an emerging genomic model system, exhibits dramatically different adult phenotypes of winged or unwinged morphs that are induced by environmental conditions in asexual females (a polyphenism) and by a single unidentified genetic locus in males (a polymorphism). Further, genetic variation for the female wing polyphenism segregates with the male wing polymorphism suggesting that the developmental networks underlying the polyphenism and polymorphism are not independent. I propose to (1) map and identify the male polymorphism gene to determine the developmental genetic basis of the male polymorphism, (2) characterize the transcriptional and metabolomic response to wing-inducing stimuli in the asexual females to determine the developmental genetic basis of the female polyphenism and (3) use a systems biology approach to link the results from (1) and (2) to provide a cohesive picture of how environmental signals and genetic signals interact to produce fundamentally similar adult alternative morphologies. The year-long mentored stage of this award focuses on developing a holistic view of the biological systems involved in a training environment that excels in systems and network biology: the laboratory of Dr. Sergey Nuzhdin in the Molecular and Computational Biology section at the University of Southern California. Following the mentored period, I will transition to a tenure-track position at an academic research institution. Relevance: All phenotypes, from our height and weight to our disease susceptibility, result from a complex interplay between our genes and our environment. This project aims to illuminate basic rules acting to integrate environmental and genetic signals in the production of the phenotype.