Experimental studies on ecological and genetic complexity in adaptation

为什么自然界如此多样化？可以说，这个问题仍然是生物学中尚未解决的核心问题之一。我的研究旨在提供一个答案。我的目标是为生物多样性的起源和命运提供一个普遍的、有理论基础的理论。我使用微生物模型系统通过实验来测试进化的基础理论，这种技术被称为实验进化。这种方法使我能够在真实的时间内追踪多样性的出现和命运，并与基因组测序相结合，使我能够确定负责适应和多样化的遗传变化。这里提出的研究问题，以及我们现有的模型在解释适应性多样化的模式时，面对更多的生态和遗传复杂的系统比以前被认为是。** 我们的短期目标是（1）评估网络拓扑结构对集合种群适应的影响，（2）测试适应过程中适应度结构如何影响基因型到适应度的映射变化的预测。更具体地说，我们问是否空间结构，网络的子种群连接的分散，影响选择的结果，否则统一的环境。如果环境在空间上也是可变的，即不同的斑块包含不同的资源或压力，这种情况应该促进多样性的进化，怎么办？适应模型在预测哪些遗传变化序列导致适应方面有多好？** 这项工作的动机是基础问题，因此将有助于进化，遗传学和生态学的基础知识，并在此期间培训至少17名高素质的人，从本科到博士。然而，这项研究的大部分透镜是病原微生物的管理，特别是关于抗菌素耐药性。长期以来，人们一直认识到，我们在治疗传染病方面面临的许多挑战都以进化为核心。这项工作构成了评估进化理论的第一步，这些理论可以为与传染病的治疗和管理相关的实际解决方案提供信息。

Why is the natural world so diverse? Arguably, this question remains one of the central unresolved problems in biology. My research aims to supply an answer. My aim is to provide a general, empirically-grounded theory for the origins and fate of biodiversity. I use microbial model systems to test foundational theories in evolution through experiment to do this, a technique known as experimental evolution. This approach allows me to track the emergence and fate of diversity in real time and, in combination with genome sequencing, allows me to identify the genetic changes responsible for adaptation and diversification. The research proposed here asks how well our existing models fare at explaining patterns of adaptive diversification when confronted with more ecologically and genetically complex systems than have been considered previously. ******Our short-term objectives are (1) to evaluate the impact of network topology on adaptation in metapopulations and, (2) test predictions on how the structure of fitness landscapes the mapping of genotype to fitness changes during adaptation. More specifically, we ask whether spatial structure, the network of sub-populations connected by dispersal, impacts the outcome of selection in an otherwise uniform environment. What if the environment is also spatially variable, in the sense that different patches contain different resources or stresses, a situation that should promote the evolution of diversity? How good are models of adaptation at predicting which sequence of genetic changes cause adaptation? ******This work is motivated by foundational problems, and so will contribute to basic knowledge in evolution, genetics, and ecology and training at least 17 highly qualified people, from undergraduate through to PhD, over the course of this grant. However, the lens through which much of this research happens is the management of pathogenic microbes, especially in regards to antimicrobial resistance. It has long been appreciated that many of the challenges we face in treating infectious disease have evolution at their core. This work constitutes a first step towards evaluating evolutionary theories that can inform practical solutions associated with the treatment and management of infectious disease.**