Molecular Adaptation and Gametic Competition

该项目研究了附属腺蛋白在受精中的作用，特别是在配子竞争的背景下。 众所周知，这些蛋白质在精子成功中起着关键作用，因为缺乏产生附属腺蛋白能力的果蝇突变体的生育能力大大降低。 这些突变体还表现出的特点，表明附属腺蛋白是特别重要的隔离和存储的精子由女性。 在昆虫中，正常的雌性可以储存一次交配的精子数周，这一属性对分布稀疏的动物特别重要。 基因组学的方法正在被用来确定所有的编码附属腺蛋白的基因，和相关物种的DNA序列的比较将允许识别的分子的哪些部分是进化最快的。 此外，将评估和测试Acp基因的种内多态性与配子竞争能力变化的相关性。该项目是一个项目的更新和扩展，得到了美国国家科学基金会的支持，它已成为许多学生的培训和教育的工具。 七名本科生在实验室直接从事这个项目，3人成为出版物的合著者。 博士后研究员Alberto Civetta在马尼托巴大学获得了一个教职，这是他在该项目上所做的工作的基础上。 在未来几年，学生的参与将继续是至关重要的。在过去的NSF支持下设计的构建cDNA文库并将X物种的多个随机基因与Y物种的已知序列进行比对的方法，作为彻底鉴定特定组织中表达的基因并同时鉴定那些基因的一种手段，受到了广泛关注。正在经历最快的更替。

This project examines the role that accessory gland proteins play in fertilization, particularly in the context of gametic competition. It is known that these proteins play a pivotal role in sperm success, because Drosophila (fruit flies) mutants that lack the ability to produce accessory gland proteins have much reduced fertility. These mutants also exhibit characteristics that suggest that accessory gland proteins are particularly important in the sequestration and storage of sperm by females. In insects, normal females may store sperm from a single mating for several weeks, an attribute that is particularly important for sparsely distributed animals. Genomic methods are being employed to identify all of the genes encoding accessory gland proteins, and comparison of the DNA sequences of related species will allow identification of which parts of the molecules are evolving most rapidly. In addition within-species polymorphism in the Acp genes will be assessed and tested for its association with variation in gametic competitive ability. This project is a renewal and extension of a project that received prior support from NSF, and it has served as a vehicle for training and education of many students. Seven undergraduates have worked in the laboratory directly on this project, and 3 have become co-authors on publications. Postdoctoral fellow Alberto Civetta secured a faculty position at the University of Manitoba on the basis of the work he did on the project. In the coming years, student involvement will continue to be vital. The method of constructing a cDNA library and aligning multiple random genes of species X with known sequences of species Y, devised under the past NSF support, has received widespread attention as a means to exhaustively identify genes expressed in specific tissues and simultaneously to identify those that are undergoing the most rapid turnover.