Environmental Growth Chambers for Insect Husbandry, Experimental Endocrinology, RNAi, and Genomic Engineering

在自然界或临床中观察到的发育和生理变异并不仅仅是基因差异的结果。现在有大量数据表明，基因和环境（营养、致癌物）共同产生了这种变异。蚂蚁及其复杂的等级是研究环境变化如何影响基因功能的一个新兴模型。蚂蚁具有高度的可塑性：在发育过程中，由于环境的影响，同一组基因可以产生一系列不同的性状变异。这背后是基因和激素的不同调节。总之，这在不同种姓的个体之间产生了与繁殖、寿命和生长有关的巨大差异。Rajakumar博士实验室的研究目标是研究在发育和成年期间协调组织和器官相互交流的分子信号，这对于产生种姓特异性变异至关重要。与此同时，Rajakumar博士的实验室将利用与黑腹果蝇密切相关的遗传模型来研究这些信号的机制细节。通过综合利用新兴生物和模式生物，Rajakumar博士的实验室将能够以高分辨率的机制细节产生和解决具有基础生物学重要性的新问题。拉贾库马尔博士的研究小组从北美各地收集了几种蚂蚁，并从世界各地产生和获得了数百种不同的黑胃d.m anogaster遗传菌株。为了维持（饲养）和进行体内实验（包括内分泌学、发育遗传学和基因组工程），需要专门的设备。

Developmental and physiological variation observed in nature or in the clinic, is not the result of differences in genes alone. A wealth of data now demonstrates that genes and the environment (nutrition, carcinogens) together generate this variation. Ants, and their complex castes, are an emerging model for investigating how environmental variation influences gene function. Ants are highly plastic: during development, the same set of genes can give rise to an array of alternative trait variation due to the environment. Underlying this is the differential regulation of genes, and hormones. Altogether, this generates dramatic differences between individuals of different castes related to reproduction, longevity, and growth. The research goal of Dr. Rajakumar's laboratory is to investigate the molecular signals coordinating the intercommunication of tissues and organs during both development and adulthood, which are critical for generating caste-specific variation. In parallel to this work, Dr. Rajakumar's laboratory will investigate these signals in mechanistic detail using the closely related genetic model the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Collectively by leveraging both an emerging and model organism, Dr. Rajakumar's laboratory will be able to generate and tackle novel questions of fundamental biological importance with high-resolution mechanistic detail. Dr. Rajakumar's group collects several species of ants from across North America, and has both generated and acquired hundreds of different genetic strains of D.melanogaster from around the world. In order to maintain (husbandry) and conduct in vivo experiments (including endocrinological, developmental genetic, and genomic engineering), specialized equipment are required. The equipment requested in this RTI application comprises: (1) two state-of-the-art accurate and precise, large experimental environmental chambers; (2) one medium sized experimental environmental chamber of equal accuracy and precision. These environmental chambers are highly programmable and can be remotely controlled for a wide range of temperatures, humidity, and photoperiod, and for record/log keeping of environmental parameters. This sensitive environmental control enables the lab to simulate natural habitat conditions of the ants and standard conditions for transgenic flies. HQP of the Rajakumar lab will be able to rear a diverse array of ant species to interrogate the mechanisms underlying gene-by-environment interactions and interorgan communication in an evolutionary developmental context. In parallel, this equipment will enable his HQP to rear transgenic flies that require a range of temperatures in order to tightly control temperature-sensitive genetic elements relevant for temporal and tissue-specific knockdown of gene expression, overexpression of genes, and mutations of genes, to gain further insight into the genomic and hormonal basis of gene-by-environment interactions and interorgan communication.