Theoretical anf genomic approaches to reveal key traits underlying adaptation and diversification

拟议的研究探讨了生物体的特征如何影响其适应能力和在进化过程中的多样化。 使用酵母，我们将细胞群体暴露于极端环境条件下，并评估它们的生存和适应能力，使我们能够测量一些关键的进化量，包括选择的强度，优势的程度和全基因组有利突变的潜力。 然后，现代基因组工具将用于确定每个突变引起的确切遗传变化，使我们能够确定哪些基因最常对生存和适应极端环境条件做出贡献。 为了研究生物体的特征如何影响其在更长的进化时间尺度上多样化的能力，我们正在开发新的生物信息学工具，以推断特征对物种形成速度和灭绝风险的影响。 这些方法能够使用大量的系统发育树生成的今天，再加上对感兴趣的物种的字符状态的数据，以确定字符和物种形成和灭绝率之间的关系。 最后，我们寻求资金来继续开发数学模型，以研究不同进化力量之间的相互作用，这些力量塑造了当今存在的各种生物系统。 目前正在开发的进化模型包括研究性别进化和重组的不同假设之间的相互作用，解释当雄性和雌性在其选择最优值上不同时的性别比变化，调查促进从自由生活到寄生生活周期的进化过渡的生物体的特征，以及其他正在进行的理论项目。 总而言之，拟议的研究提供了一种多管齐下的方法来揭示生物系统如何进化以及生物系统的特征如何影响短期适应和长期物种形成和灭绝过程。 因此，参与这项研究的受训者可以发展各种技能，包括实验设计、微生物技术、生物信息学和数学建模，并在他们选择的职业道路上取得了巨大成功。

The proposed research explores how the features of an organism influence its ability to adapt and to diversify over evolutionary time. Using yeast, we will expose populations of cells to extreme environmental conditions and assess their ability to survive and adapt, allowing us to measure a number of key evolutionary quantities, including the strength of selection, the degree of dominance, and the genome-wide potential for advantageous mutations. Modern genomic tools will then be used to determine the exact genetic changes caused by each mutation, allowing us to determine which genes contribute most often to survival and adaptation to extreme environmental conditions. To study how the features of an organism influence its ability to diversify over longer evolutionary time scales, we are developing new bioinformatic tools that infer the influence of a trait on the rate of speciation and the risk of extinction. These methods are able to use the large number of phylogenetic trees being generated today, coupled with data on character states for the species of interest, to determine the relationship between a character and rates of speciation and extinction. Finally, we seek funding to continue the development of mathematical models that examine the interplay between different evolutionary forces that have shaped the variety of biological systems that exist today. Evolutionary models currently under development include studying interactions between different hypotheses for the evolution of sex and recombination, explaining sex ratio variation when males and females differ in their selective optima, investigating the features of an organism that facilitate the evolutionary transition from free-living to parasitic life cycles, among other on-going theory projects. Altogether, the proposed research offers a multi-pronged approach to revealing how biological systems evolve and how the features of a biological system influence short-term adaptation and long-term speciation and extinction processes. Trainees involved in this research thus develop a variety of skills, including experimental design, microbial techniques, bioinformatics, and mathematical modeling, and have been highly successful in their chosen career paths.