Genomic conflict and placentation in Poeciliid fishes

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。基因组内部冲突被认为是导致母体来源对哺乳动物和种子植物基因表达产生影响的主要选择力量。相互冲突的实体的分子相互作用的核心基因显示出极快的进化速度。有生命的动物的母胎关系被比作宿主/寄生虫的相互作用，因为胎儿通常只与母亲有一半的血缘关系。因此，父系基因组处于一个独特的位置，通过驱动母体/胎儿界面的适应性变化来影响母体供应的水平。在许多最近分化的谱系中，池鱼的胎盘形成是独立进化的。对伴随着胎盘形成适应的基因变化的大范围检查将为研究发育程序进化的突变机制提供独特的见解。PI将使用变革性的分子遗传学方法来识别经历了从卵黄供应到母体供应的胚胎发生的适应性变化的基因。通过使用下一代测序技术，也就是所谓的大规模并行测序，PI将为繁殖策略截然不同的物种产生完整的基因活动信息，以努力确定基因组冲突对参与胎儿生长调节的基因的影响。除了这项工作将为Poeciliidae提供基因组学资源外，拟议的实验还为来自不同背景的博士后、研究生、本科生和高中生提供了教育和培训机会。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Intragenomic conflict is thought to be the major selective force leading to parent-of-origin influences on gene expression in mammals and seed-bearing plants. Genes central to the molecular interaction of conflicting entities show extraordinarily rapid rates of evolution. The maternal/fetal relationship in livebearing animals has been likened to a host/parasite interaction since the fetus is generally only half related to the mother. The paternal genome, therefore, is in a unique position to influence the level of maternal provisioning by driving adaptive change at the maternal/fetal interface. Placentation in poeciliid fishes has evolved independently in numerous recently diverged lineages. Broad scale examination of the genetic changes accompanying the adaptation to placentation will provide unique insights into the mutational mechanisms underlying the evolution of a developmental program. The PIs will employ transformative molecular genetics approaches to identify genes that have undergone adaptive changes leading from yolk-provisioned to maternal provisioned embryogenesis. By using next generation sequencing technology, otherwise known as massively parallel sequencing, the PIs will produce full gene activity information for species with vastly different reproductive strategies in an effort to identify the consequences of genomic conflict on genes involved in fetal growth regulation. In addition to the genomics resources this work will provide for the Poeciliidae, the proposed experiments offer educational and training opportunities for post-doctoral, post-graduate, undergraduate and high school students from diverse backgrounds.