The Consequences of Sperm Availability to the Evolution of Gamete Recognition Proteins

卵子和精子表面的蛋白质决定了哪些雄性可以与哪些雌性繁殖，并经常决定一个物种与另一个物种是否不同。为什么这些蛋白质在一些物种中进化得很快，而在另一些物种中却没有，人们对此知之甚少。pi计划1)记录一种精子蛋白快速进化的海胆物种和一种精子蛋白缓慢进化的海胆物种的卵子和精子中这些蛋白质的变异，2)确定每种蛋白质变异在实验室和海洋自然条件下的表现，3)研究卵子蛋白变化与精子蛋白变化之间的关系。除了揭示是什么使某些个体受精成为可能，而另一些个体则不可能，这项工作还结合了两个学科，探索决定新蛋白质何时更成功的生态过程何时以及如何推动进化。所开发的计算方法将允许分析基因组的一个部分的变化如何影响另一部分的变化，并将普遍用于破译大量传入的基因组数据。本科生和研究生，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生，将接受分子生物学、野外生态学和计算科学方面的培训。这里开发的软件将向公众开放。

The proteins on the surface of eggs and sperm determine which males can reproduce with which females, and often define whether one species is distinct from another. Little is known about why these proteins evolve quickly in some species, but not in others. The PIs propose to 1) document the variation in these proteins in eggs and sperm of one sea urchin species with rapidly evolving sperm proteins and one species with slowly evolving sperm proteins, 2) determine how each protein variant performs in the laboratory and under natural conditions in the sea, and 3) investigate the relationship between changes in egg proteins with changes in sperm proteins.In addition to uncovering what makes fertilization possible among some individuals but not others, this work combines two disciplines to explore when and how ecological processes that determine when novel proteins will be more successful can drive evolution. The computational methods developed will allow analysis of how changes in one part of the genome can influence changes in another part, and will be of general use for deciphering the flood of incoming genomic data. Undergraduate and graduate students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, will be trained in molecular biology, field ecology and computational science. Software developed here will be made publicly available.