Evolutionary Ecology of Genetic Systems

遗传系统的进化生态学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05652
• 负责人: Husband, Brian
• 金额: $ 4.74万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=740765
• 关键词: Evolutionary; Ecology; Genetic; Systems

My research program explores the ecology and genetics of plant populations, both wild and domesticated. These attributes of living things are fundamental to understanding changes in abundance and genetic diversity in organisms, and necessary for building sustainable food sources, managing impacts of invasive species, and conserving species at risk. My research team pursues this goal by focusing on reproductive systems, which control the quantity and quality of sperm and eggs, patterns of mating, and ultimately the transmission of genetic variation from one generation to the next. In this proposal, I focus on one aspect of reproduction, whole genome duplication, a process by which organisms produce offspring with double the chromosome number, which leads to new species (called polyploids) with as many as 86 copies of every chromosome in each cell. This phenomenon is widespread in wild plants and animals (even humans!). It is also a feature of some cancer tissues and is used as a genetic tool for breeding bigger and better crops (watermelon, strawberries, potatoes, poplar) and ornamental plants. Unfortunately, our understanding of the causes and impacts of whole genome duplication are limited, which prevents us from fully understanding factors regulating biological diversity and managing the effects of polyploidy on health and food security. To address this knowledge gap, we propose to study the mechanisms by which new polyploids form and establish, explore why polyploids arise in some organisms and not others, and predict the effects of whole genome duplication on the function of organisms and their interaction with other species. Our research will initially focus on production of unreduced gametes, whereby errors in gamete formation give rise to sperm and eggs with twice the normal number of chromosomes. Using several species, we will investigate unreduced gamete production along environmental gradients (elevation) and in growth chambers to determine the role that environmental change and stress can play in causing these errors, which give rise to polyploid offspring. We will also study the impacts of whole genome duplication by identifying independent polyploid origins in wild species and synthesizing new polyploids from a variety of genetic backgrounds in the lab, and then evaluating their performance at morphological, physiological and genetic levels. Using apples, we will then examine the potential interactions between related domestic and wild species that differ in their ploidy levels. In this species, the potential for hybridization and gene escape from domestic apple into native apples is an example of the risks associated with these interactions. Through this research, I expect to advance the methods by which we study whole genome duplication - using flow cytometry and genetic markers - and improve our ability to both understand the importance of this process to biological diversity and manage it for the benefit of society.

我的研究项目探索植物种群的生态学和遗传学，包括野生和驯化的。生物的这些属性对于理解生物体丰度和遗传多样性的变化至关重要，对于建立可持续的食物来源，管理入侵物种的影响和保护处于危险中的物种也是必要的。我的研究团队通过专注于生殖系统来实现这一目标，生殖系统控制精子和卵子的数量和质量，交配模式，并最终将遗传变异从一代传递到下一代。 在这个建议中，我专注于繁殖的一个方面，全基因组复制，一个生物体产生染色体数量加倍的后代的过程，这导致新物种（称为多倍体），每个细胞中的每个染色体多达86个拷贝。这种现象在野生植物和动物（甚至人类）中很普遍。它也是某些癌症组织的特征，并被用作培育更大更好的作物（西瓜，草莓，土豆，白杨）和观赏植物的遗传工具。不幸的是，我们对全基因组复制的原因和影响的了解有限，这使我们无法充分了解调节生物多样性的因素，也无法管理多倍性对健康和粮食安全的影响。 为了解决这一知识差距，我们建议研究新的多倍体形成和建立的机制，探索为什么多倍体出现在某些生物体中，而不是其他生物体，并预测全基因组复制对生物体功能及其与其他物种的相互作用的影响。我们的研究最初将集中在未减数配子的产生上，配子形成中的错误会产生染色体数量是正常数量两倍的精子和卵子。使用几个物种，我们将调查未减少的配子生产沿着环境梯度（海拔）和生长室，以确定环境变化和压力可以发挥的作用，导致这些错误，从而产生多倍体后代。我们还将通过在野生物种中识别独立的多倍体起源和在实验室中从各种遗传背景合成新的多倍体来研究全基因组复制的影响，然后在形态，生理和遗传水平上评估它们的性能。使用苹果，我们将研究相关的家庭和野生物种之间的潜在相互作用，不同的倍性水平。在这个物种中，杂交和基因从国内苹果逃逸到本地苹果的可能性是与这些相互作用相关的风险的一个例子。通过这项研究，我希望推进我们研究全基因组复制的方法-使用流式细胞术和遗传标记-并提高我们理解这一过程对生物多样性的重要性并为社会利益管理它的能力。