Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology for FY 2009

这一行动为NSF 2009财年博士后研究奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金支持本杰明·布莱克曼的一项研究和培训计划，该计划的标题是“在局部适应和基因家族扩张期间环境对基因表达进化的贡献”。这项研究的主办机构是杜克大学，赞助科学家是约翰·威利斯。基因调控的进化变化通常在自然种群如何适应当地栖息地以及同一基因的不同副本在复制后如何持续发挥着重要作用。本研究探讨基因表达的差异如何对黄猴的栖息地适应和基因家族多样性做出贡献。下一代测序技术正被用于评估在各种生境中观察到的Mimulus基因表达的差异，这些生境包括土壤盐分高的沿海地区、内陆干旱的生境，以及在温室和野外饲养的杂交植物。在基因组水平上分析多种环境条件下的表达有助于洞察有关环境和基因表达进化如何相互作用的三个问题。首先，突变是如何影响基因表达的环境调控的，相对于它们调控的基因的位置，基因表达在基因组中的分布是如何的？第二，基因表达中的祖先和进化的环境反应是如何相关的？最后，基因家族在不同环境中的表达差异有多大？培训目标包括学习收集、分析和分发基因组规模的数据集所需的实验室、计算和编程技能。更广泛的影响包括一个重要的数据库(Mimulus的初始表达图谱)和用于分析基因表达模式的新的生物信息学工具。这项研究还促进了对干旱和盐胁迫反应这两个重要农艺性状的分子基础的了解。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009. The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled "Environmental contributions to gene expression evolution during local adaptation and gene family expansion" for Benjamin Blackman. The host institution for this research is Duke University and the sponsoring scientist is John Willis.Evolutionary changes in gene regulation often play important roles in how natural populations adapt to their local habitats and also how different copies of the same gene persist after duplication. This research examines how variation in gene expression contributes to habitat adaptation and gene family diversification in the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus. Next-generation sequencing technology is being used to assess variation in gene expression observed in Mimulus grown across a variety of habitats: coastal areas with high soil salinity, inland dry habitats, and hybrid plants, reared both in greenhouses and in the wild. Analyzing expression on a genomic scale in multiple environmental conditions provides insight into three questions regarding how the environment and gene expression evolution interact. First, how are mutations affecting environmental regulation of gene expression distributed in the genome relative to the position of the gene they regulate? Second, how are ancestral and evolved environmental responses in gene expression related? Finally, to what extent do gene families diverge with respect to expression in different environments?Training objectives include learning laboratory, computational, and programming skills necessary for collecting, analyzing, and distributing genome-scale datasets. Broader impacts include an important database (an initial expression atlas for Mimulus) and new bioinformatics tools for analyzing gene expression patterns. This research also advances knowledge about the molecular basis of two important agronomic traits, responses to drought and salt stress.