CAREER: The physiology and genetics of adaptation in a complex environment

生物体具有非凡的能力，即使在压力下也能对环境做出生理反应，以维持生存和健康。这项研究计划调查模式遗传有机体黑腹果蝇对复杂环境的生理反应。D.Blackogaster最近将其活动范围从热带非洲扩大到更高纬度，那里的热环境更加多变。与此同时，在其发酵的果实生境中，黑腹果蝇进化出了对乙醇和醋酸的显著耐受性。这种果蝇的自然历史使我们能够研究有机体如何对复杂和日益多变的气候做出反应。特别是，这项研究将测试关于细胞膜和新陈代谢的变化如何在温度可变和酒精含量丰富的利基环境中保持健康、表现和健康的假设。这些实验调查了生物体生命周期内为应对环境而发生的变化--塑料生理学--以及通过自然选择的生理适应过程进化出的使生物体适应环境的变化。这项研究的目的是确定在复杂环境下这些可塑性和适应性反应背后的多个基因之间的相互作用。所提出的研究将加深我们在进化生物学前沿研讨会(NSF 2005)确定的领域的知识，为环境耐受的遗传、细胞和生理机制提供见解，并开发新的方法将生理性状与复杂的遗传变异在多个基因上联系起来。数据将使用仙女木数据库公开提供(http://datadryad.org/)，和遗传系将在发布后根据请求提供)。被认为对许多实验室有用的基因系将被放置在布鲁明顿果蝇种群中心(http://flystocks.bio.indiana.edu/).The的教育目标借鉴了PI将她的研究和教学结合在一起的历史)。目标1为大学生物课程开发了一个新的课程，使用案例研究教授信息素养、写作、量化思维和数据表示方面的技能。课程将存放在国家科学基金会国家案例研究教学中心(NCCST；http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/).)的公开数据库中目标2将创建一个教育多媒体展示，以促进公众在生命科学方面的素养。目标3提出了一种融合了遗传学、进化论、细胞和组织生理学的研究培训计划，包括少数民族和女性学生。

Organisms have a remarkable capacity to respond physiologically to their environment to maintain survival and health even in times of stress. This research program investigates the physiological responses of the model genetic organism Drosophila melanogaster to a complex environment. D. melanogaster recently expanded its range out of tropical Africa and into higher latitudes with more variable thermal environments. At the same time, D. melanogaster evolved a remarkable tolerance of ethanol and acetic acid in its fermenting fruit habitat. The natural history of this fruit fly allows for an investigation of how organisms are likely to respond to a complex and increasingly variable climate. In particular, this research will test hypotheses about how changes in cell membranes and metabolism maintain health, performance and fitness in a thermally-variable and alcohol-rich niche. The experiments investigate changes that occur within the lifespan of organisms to deal with the environment -- plastic physiologies -- and changes that have evolved to fit organisms to their environment via the process of natural selection physiological adaptations. The goal of this research is to identify the interactions among multiple genes that underlie these plastic and adaptive responses to a complex environment.The proposed research will further our knowledge in areas identified by the Frontiers in Evolutionary Biology workshop (NSF 2005), provide insight on genetic, cellular and physiological mechanisms of environmental tolerance, and develop new methods for associating physiological traits with complex genetic variation at multiple genes. Data will be made publicly available using the DRYAD database (http://datadryad.org/), and genetic lines will be made available upon request after publication. Genetic lines judged to be of use for many labs will be placed in the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (http://flystocks.bio.indiana.edu/).The educational objectives draw on the PI's history of integrating her research and teaching. Objective 1 develops a novel curriculum for college-level biology classes that uses case studies to teach skills in information literacy, writing, quantitative thinking, and data representation. Curricula will be deposited in the publicly available database of the NSF National Center for Case Study Teaching (NCCST; http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/). Objective 2 will create an educational multimedia display to promote public literacy in the life sciences. Objective 3 advances a research training program for students that integrates genetics, evolution, and cellular and organismal physiology, and includes minority and female students.