Collaborative Research: Understanding the basis of interactions between adaptive mutations and their environment

基因突变的适合度效应可能因其发生的外部环境和遗传环境而异。突变与外部和遗传环境的这些相互作用决定了潜在的适应性突变实际上将带来好处的普遍性。这项研究将通过实验研究外部环境和遗传环境是如何影响适应性突变的效果的，外部环境将通过改变生长限制资源的身份来操纵，遗传环境将通过将相同的突变引入不同的遗传背景来操纵，这里是单一细菌物种的不同菌株。结果将整合生态、遗传和生化数据，以确定两种类型的环境条件对新的有益突变效果的影响。突变及其环境之间的相互作用影响生态和医学上重要特征的传播，例如细菌降解合成化合物或导致疾病的能力。了解这些相互作用背后的因素对于预测突变向新物种和跨不同环境的传播至关重要；这些相互作用对于在气候变化的世界中适应的脆弱性或稳健性至关重要。该项目将为从高中到博士后水平的学生提供跨学科的基于研究的培训，包括那些在科学领域传统上代表性不足的学生。该项目还将促进将实验科学转移到本科和高中课程。该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。

The fitness effects of genetic mutations can differ depending on the external and genetic environments in which they occur. These interactions of mutations with the external and genetic environments determine the generality with which a potentially adaptive mutation will actually confer a benefit. This research will study experimentally how the effects of adaptive mutations are influenced by the external environment, which will be manipulated by altering the identity of the growth-limiting resource, and the genetic environment, which will be manipulated by introducing identical mutations into distinct genetic backgrounds, here, different strains of a single bacterial species. Results will integrate ecological, genetic, and biochemical data to determine the influence of the two types of environmental conditions on the effect of new beneficial mutations. Interactions between mutations and their environment influence the spread of ecologically and medically important traits, such as the ability of bacteria to degrade synthetic compounds or cause disease. An understanding of the factors underlying these interactions is essential to predict the spread of mutations to new species and across different environments; these interactions are fundamental to the vulnerability or robustness of adaptation in a world of changing climate. This project will provide interdisciplinary research-based training for students from the high school to post-doctoral levels, including those from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. The project also will promote transfer of experimental science to undergraduate and high school curricula. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).