Enhancing Capacity for Molecular and Evolutionary Genetic Research at The University of Montana: Acquisition of a Genetic Analyzer and Related Equipment

蒙大拿大学在L.Fishman博士、S. Miller博士、M. Minnick博士和R. Rosenzweig博士的指导下获得了一笔拨款，用于购买仪器，以支持UM生物科学系（DBS）和林业学院的进化和分子遗传学研究。该仪器将提高DNA测序、基因分型和基因表达分析的速度、效率和可负担性，从而揭示基因型和表型之间的联系，并了解DNA序列和基因表达的变化如何促进分化进化。所要求的仪器将使至少12名从事保护生物学、昆虫进化和发展以及病毒进化等领域的教师的研究项目受益。核心用户的研究活动包括开花植物花进化的生态遗传学和合子后分离机制的发展，蓝藻的分子系统遗传学，酵母的进化功能基因组学。购买设备将同时激活蒙大拿大学利用DNA分析的所有研究活动。所要求的仪器还将通过在已建立的培训和推广计划中使用来推进UM的教育目标，以及增加尖端学生研究的机会。增强的分子遗传学仪器将进一步为本科生提供研究机会，无论是在个人实验室还是作为DBS核心课程的组成部分。拟议的设备还将促进雄心勃勃的博士前和博士后研究项目的执行，并将为年轻研究人员在快速变化的生物学研究环境中取得成功做好准备。

A grant has been awarded to the University of Montana under the direction of Dr. L.Fishman, Dr. S. Miller, Dr. M. Minnick and Dr. R. Rosenzweig for the purchase of instrumentation to support research in evolutionary and molecular genetics in the Division of Biological Sciences (DBS) and the School of Forestry at UM. This instrumentation will increase the speed, efficiency and affordability of DNAsequencing, genotyping and gene expression analysis in order to reveal the connections between genotype and phenotype, and to understand how changes in DNA sequence and gene expression contribute to divergent evolution. The requested instrumentation will benefit the research programs of at least twelve faculty working in fields from Conservation Biology to Insect Evolution and Development to Viral Evolution. The research activities of the core users include ecological genetics of floral evolution and development of postzygotic isolating mechanisms in flowering plants, molecular phylogenetics of cyanobacteria, and evolutionary functional genomics of yeast. The equipment purchases will simultaneously invigorate all research activities at the University of Montana that utilize DNA analyses. The requested instrumentation will also advance UM's educational goals through use in established training and outreach programs, as well as increased opportunities for cutting-edge student research. Enhanced molecular genetic instrumentation will further the goal of providing research opportunities for undergraduate students, both in individual labs and as a component of DBS's core curriculum. The proposed equipment will also facilitate the execution of ambitious pre- and post-doctoral research projects and will prepare young researchers to succeed in the rapidly changing environment of biology research.