Origin, diversification, and integration of nutrition-dependent development in horned beetles

生物体及其组成部分的形式和功能是通过遗传输入和环境条件之间的相互作用在发育过程中形成的。形式和功能的变化，无论是在发展还是进化过程中，都必须通过这些相互作用的变化而产生。这项研究旨在确定和描述哪些基因和发育过程(a)使雄性和雌性能够分化，(b)促进高营养和低营养条件下的发育。最后(c)，它研究了性别和营养特异性发育之间相互作用的变化如何使男性和女性的相同特征对营养表现出不同的反应。这些目标是通过推进对一种特殊昆虫群体的研究来实现的，这种昆虫以其发育和进化如何受到性别和环境特异性分化的影响而闻名：角甲虫。角甲虫种类在雌雄二态性的程度（从无到极端）以及营养诱导的差异（从无到逐渐到离散，类似于蚂蚁和蜜蜂的种姓差异）方面差异很大。最重要的是，角甲虫很容易圈养，并且易于实验分析，包括基因操作和全基因组表达研究。本研究使用这些方法来研究性别和营养依赖性生长和分化的调节和进化。在这样做的过程中，它解决了生物学中一个基本的、长期存在的、很大程度上未解决的问题：遗传、发育和环境机制如何相互作用，以塑造复杂性状的形成、整合和多样化？这项研究与一些教育和推广工作密切相关。(1)通过与当地儿童博物馆的合作，这项研究将在3年的时间里为大约200名当地和地区的K-12教师提供昆虫生物学的培训和教育资源。(2)本研究将培养至少8名青年科学家从事密集的跨学科研究。(3)最后，它将促进教育推广，帮助招募8名高中教师和8名少数民族高中生进行暑期研究沉浸，并向他们介绍遗传学，发育和进化的研究。

The forms and functions of organisms and their parts emerge in development through the interactions between genetic inputs and environmental conditions. Changes in form and function, whether during development or evolution, must arise through changes in these interactions. This research seeks to identify and characterize which genes and developmental processes that (a) enable the differentiation of males and females, and (b) facilitate development in high and low nutritional conditions. Lastly (c), it investigates how changes in the interactions between gender- and nutrition-specific development allow the same traits in males and females to exhibit different responses to nutrition. These objectives are addressed by advancing the study of a specific group of insects famous for how their development and evolution have been shaped by gender- and environment-specific differentiation: horned beetles. Horned beetle species differ greatly in the extent of male-female dimorphism (ranging from none to extreme) as well as nutrition-induced differences (ranging from none to gradual to discrete, akin to caste differences in ants and bees). Most importantly, horned beetles are easily kept in captivity and amenable to experimental analysis, including genetic manipulations and genome-wide expression studies. This research uses these approaches to investigate regulation and evolution of gender- and nutrition-dependent growth and differentiation. In so doing it addresses a fundamental, long-standing, and largely unresolved question in biology: how do genetic, developmental, and environmental mechanisms interact to shape the formation, integration, and diversification of complex traits?This research interfaces tightly with several educational and outreach efforts. (1) Using a collaboration with a local children's museum this research will help provide training and educational resources in insect biology to approximately 200 local and regional K-12 teachers over the course of 3 years. (2) This research will help train at least 8 young scientists in intensive interdisciplinary research. (3) Lastly, it will facilitate educational outreach by helping recruit 8 high school teachers and 8 minority high school students for summer research immersion and introduce them to research in genetics, development, and evolution.