NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology for FY 2009

本行动根据2009年美国复苏与再投资法案（公法111-5）资助2009年度美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金支持詹姆斯·沃尔特斯的一项名为“蝴蝶性别染色体和性别偏向基因的比较基因组分析”的研究和培训计划。这项研究的主办机构是剑桥大学，赞助科学家是克里斯·吉金斯。第三年将在斯坦福大学亨特·弗雷泽的实验室度过。有几个理论模型预测了男性与女性基因的不同进化动力，要么是通过性染色体上的联系，要么是通过性别特异性功能。本研究综合了有关染色体连锁、基因表达和序列分化的基因组数据，探讨了性别连锁和性别偏倚基因表达对蝴蝶分子进化的影响。这项研究在蝴蝶中为这些理论提供了一个新的测试，雌性有不同的性染色体（XY，异质），雄性有同源性染色体（XX，同质）。因此，这项工作提供了一个重要的独立对比以往的研究在雄性异配子群体的生物，如苍蝇和哺乳动物，以及另一个雌性异配子群体（鸟类）。培训目标包括与基因组规模数据分析相关的计算和分析技能。具体来说，该奖学金使研究员能够获得：1)接触基因组方法和数据结构；2)熟悉分析生物数据的软件包；3)编程技能、统计方法和理论方面的经验。这项工作的更广泛的影响包括：发展太阳神蝶作为基因组模型系统，促进美国和英国之间的国际合作，并与商业蝴蝶展览合作，将太阳神蝶作为公共科学教育和推广的重点。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2009 and is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled "Comparative genomic analysis of sex-chromosome and sex-biased genes in Heliconius butterflies" for James Walters. The host institution for this research is the University of Cambridge, and the sponsoring scientist is Chris Jiggins. The third year will be spent at Stanford University in the laboratory of Hunter Fraser.Several theoretical models exist that predict distinct evolutionary dynamics for genes differentially affiliated with males than females, either via linkage on sex chromosomes or sex-specific function. This research synthesizes genomic data concerning chromosomal linkage, gene expression, and sequence divergence to examine the molecular evolutionary effects of sex-linkage and sex-biased gene expression in Heliconius butteflies. This research provides a novel test of these theories in butterflies, where females have different sex chromosomes (XY; heterogametic) and males have homologous sex chromosomes (XX, homogametic). This work thus provides an important independent contrast to previous studies conducted in male heterogametic groups of organisms such as flies and mammals, and another female heterogametic group (birds).Training goals include computational and analytical skills associated with the analysis of genomic-scale data. Specifically, the fellowship allows the Fellow to gain 1) exposure to genomic methods and data structure, 2) familiarity with software packages for analyzing biological data, and 3) experience with programming skills, statistical methods and theory. The broader impacts of this work include development of Heliconius butterflies as a genomic model system, promoting international collaborations between the United States and the United Kingdom, and collaborating with commercial butterfly exhibits to use Heliconius butterflies as a focus for public science education and outreach.