International DDEP: Protein Fingerprint Identification of Brood Parasites in Waterfowl

与哥登堡大学瑞典合作伙伴合作研究的博士论文增强项目（DDEP）将使首席研究员华盛顿州立大学的Michael S. Webster博士和研究生Letitia Reichart与Malte Andersson博士一起研究同种幼虫寄生（CBP）。在水禽中，雏鸟寄生是指雌鸟在自己以外的巢中产卵，它们不为寄生的后代提供父亲的照顾。相反，寄主雌性承担了与父亲照顾有关的费用。该项目将利用动物行为、生理学和多种分子遗传技术来更好地理解这种繁殖策略。这个由美国和瑞典组成的研究小组将使用安德森实验室首创的一种工具，即蛋白指纹图谱，来研究红嘴鸭作为一种模式生物。通过检查雌性之间独特的蛋白模式，研究人员打算识别寄生产卵的雌性个体，并估计宿主和寄生虫之间的关系。从这次合作中获得的数据和证据将用于检验CBP产生的假设，如差异投资理论。研究结果将有助于建立基本的行为理论，并可能为水禽的保护和管理提供有用的信息。行为系统生物学的DDEP通过使美国和欧洲的初级研究人员和专家能够结合互补的人才和共享共同兴趣和能力领域的研究资源，实现了推进科学知识的计划目标。更广泛的影响包括在早期的职业生涯中，向参与的美国研究生介绍与国际研究界卓越中心的顶尖科学家合作的机会。

This doctoral dissertation enhancement project (DDEP) for collaborative research with Swedish partners at Gotenborg University will enable principal investigator, Dr. Michael S. Webster of Washington State University, and graduate student, Letitia Reichart, to work with Dr. Malte Andersson on conspecific brood parasitism (CBP). Among waterfowl, brood parasitism involves females who lay eggs in nests other than their own and they provide no paternal care to their parasitic offspring. Instead, host females incur the costs associated with paternal care. The project will draw upon aspects of animal behavior, physiology, and multiple molecular genetic techniques to gain a better understanding of this reproductive strategy.The U.S.-Swedish team will use a tool pioneered in the Andersson laboratory, known as albumen protein fingerprinting, to study the ruddy duck as a model organism. By examining albumen protein patterns that are unique between females, the researchers intend to identify individual females who lay eggs parasitically and estimate the relatedness between the hosts and parasites. Data and evidence obtained from this collaboration will be used to test hypotheses generated by CBP such as differential investment theory. Results are expected to contribute to basic behavioral theory and may yield information that is helpful in waterfowl conservation and management. A DDEP in behavioral systems biology fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling the junior researcher and experts in the United States and Europe to combine complementary talents and share research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. Broader impacts include early career introduction of the participant U.S. graduate student to teamwork with leading scientists at centers of excellence in the international research community.