Statistical and high-throughput models of enhancer function and evolution

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Project Summary This diversity supplement will help equip Dr. Janet Buckner, an African American evolutionary ornithologist at the University of Texas Arlington, with cutting-edge skills in comparative genomics and genome biology. Dr. Buckner currently leads a vibrant research program in comparative biology, with an emphasis on phylogenetics, molecular evolution and documenting and understanding convergent evolution, primarily in vertebrates. However, she has yet to embrace whole-genome analyses that will allow her to associate genome variation and phenotypic variation using phylogenetic trees. In this supplement, we accomplish these goals by expanding current data sets in our respective labs to allow genome-phenome analysis using convergent evolution in diving ducks (Anatidae) as a model system. Deep diving in ducks is well known to have evolved multiple times and provides an excellent setting to link genome variation and phenotypic variation. Both Dr. Buckner and the PI have been amassing data sets on digitally scanned morphological variation in multiple skeletal elements in ducks, including the skull, hind- and forelimb elements, and the sternum. Additionally, the PI has been assembling whole- genome alignments of ducks as part of Aim 2 of the parent award, because ducks have multiple high-quality genomes available online and because the group displays substantial morphological variation whose genetic basis is unknown. We will bring together whole-genome alignments and both discrete and continuous morphological trait variation in ducks using our core software, PhyloAcc, which has been extended in multiple ways as part of the parent grant. Additionally, Dr. Buckner will receive mentoring and career development strategies to increase her competitiveness in applications for federal funding and to strengthen her publications to ensure achieving tenure at her home institution and increasing her scientific impact. Together these new technical skills and mentoring will allow Dr. Buckner and her laboratory to broaden her approaches in comparative biology and significantly enhance her competitiveness in the funding arena.