PYI: Studies in Population Genetics, Life History Traits and Host-Parasite Dynamics

加州大学欧文分校的Steven Frank博士在获得五年总统青年研究员奖期间，计划继续并扩大他在四个领域的研究活动。前两个问题涉及在不同遗传和生态水平上的冲突所造成的内在不稳定和由此产生的动态。具体来说，弗兰克博士将扩展他目前在基因组冲突方面的工作，以解释单父母遗传的性别偏倚因素，以及减数分裂驱动在维持染色体倒位和物种间遗传差异中的作用。利用宿主-寄生虫系统，他还将尝试将关于空间变化的可观察统计数据与维持可观察模式的长期生态和进化动态模型联系起来。第三个研究目标是了解亲代对雄性和雌性后代的投资模式，包括探索温血脊椎动物性别分配的不同解释。最后，弗兰克博士将通过将人工智能和计算机的进步与群体遗传学和进化生物学的经典方法相结合，启动学习进化的研究。他将先进的计算机技术应用于进化遗传学的目标尤其具有创新性，如果成功，可能预示着进化生物学研究的新时代。

During his five-year Presidential Young Investigator Award, Dr. Steven Frank, University of California, Irvine, plans to continue and expand his research activities in four areas. The first two concern the inherent instability and resulting dynamics caused by conflict at different genetic and ecological levels. Specifically, Dr. Frank will extend his present work on genomic conflict to explain uniparentally inherited sex-biasing elements and the role of meiotic drive in maintaining chromosomal inversions and genetic differences between species. Using host-parasite systems, he will also attempt to relate observable statistics about spacial variation to models of long-term ecological and evolutionary dynamics that maintain observable patterns. A third research goal involves understanding the patterns of parental investment in male vs. female offspring, including exploring a different interpretation of sex allocation in warm- blooded vertebrates. Finally, Dr. Frank will initiate research on the evolution of learning by merging advances in artificial intelligence and computers with classic methods from population genetics and evolutionary biology. His goal of applying advanced computer technology to evolutionary genetics is particularly innovative and, if successful, may herald a new era in evolutionary biology research.