Collaborative Research: Evolutionary genomics of rapid adaptation in threespine stickleback

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。生物学家在理解单个基因的变化如何使生物体科普不断变化的环境方面取得了重大进展。然而，它仍然是未知的如何整个基因组-总的遗传信息编码在一个有机体？s DNA - respond响应to novel新conditions条件.特别是，当独立种群适应相似的环境时，不清楚有多大比例的基因组变化以相同的方式发生。研究threespine棘鱼提供了一个很好的机会来解决这个问题。海洋形式的棘鱼一再入侵并孤立在淡水栖息地，这导致了骨骼大小，身体颜色和交配行为等特征的复制模式。这项研究的目标是分析阿拉斯加海洋刺鱼多个种群的整个基因组的分歧模式，这些刺鱼在1964年的一次大地震中形成了淡水池塘。该项目将利用尖端测序技术和新开发的评估全基因组遗传变异模式的技术，评估每个种群对其新淡水生境的基因组反应的相似性。这项研究提供了一个案例研究的基因组变化发生在生物体的自然和人为引起的环境变化的反应。此外，这项工作的结果将使人们更好地了解生物体如何应对气候变化的基因组基础，气候变化是另一种可能刺激快速进化的环境扰动。包括阿拉斯加土著在内的研究生和本科生将参与这项研究，一个网站提供了有关该项目的小学水平的材料。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Biologists are making significant progress in understanding how changes in single genes allow organisms to cope with changing environments. However, it is still unknown how entire genomes - the total genetic information encoded in an organism?s DNA - respond to novel conditions. In particular, when independent populations adapt to similar environments, it is unclear what proportion of genomic changes occur in the same way. Studies of threespine stickleback fish provide an excellent opportunity to address this problem. Repeatedly, the ocean form of stickleback has invaded and become isolated in freshwater habitats, which has resulted in replicated patterns of divergence in traits such as bone size, body coloration and mating behavior. The goal of this research is to analyze patterns of divergence across entire genomes of multiple populations of Alaskan oceanic stickleback that colonized freshwater ponds formed during a massive earthquake in 1964. Using cutting-edge sequencing technology and newly developed techniques for evaluating genome-wide patterns of genetic variation, this project will evaluate the similarity of genomic responses of each population to their new freshwater habitats. This research provides a case study of the genomic changes that occur during the responses of organisms to both natural and human-caused environmental changes. In addition, the results of this work will provide a better understanding of the genomic basis of how organisms respond to climate change, another environmental perturbation that could stimulate rapid evolution. Graduate students and undergraduates including Alaska Natives will be part of the research, and a website provides elementary-school level materials about the project.