RCN: Enabling comparative studies of the process and products of sexual selection in a genomic context

该研究协调网络促进了新的跨学科研究合作，这将促进我们对进化过程的基因组基础的理解，这对塑造生物体的生态，生理，行为和多样化至关重要。该网络汇集了基因组方法应用的先驱，具有长期生态和行为数据的研究人员，软件开发人员和信息管理专家，以丰富，共享和连接大规模数据集，为解决生物体特征如何进化的基本问题提供基础。 这一努力的成果包括一个开放获取的数据库，一个可用的基因组浏览器，以及一个模型，说明不同的科学家团队如何合作，将跨学科的独立研究转化为一个综合企业，为重大的生物学问题提供答案。 这个研究协调网络的目的是解决性选择的进化影响，从基因组的水平，生理和行为，生态系统使用manakins作为模型系统。 这些鸟类栖息在热带森林中，表现出非凡的身体和行为适应能力，并且很容易进行研究。该网络将许多学科的研究人员联合起来，通过功能注释来丰富基因组资源，开发连接相关但异构数据的机制，并应用这些资源来了解基因组与环境之间的复杂关系，这些关系在生物体中产生形式和功能。该网络通过年度会议、研讨会、工作组和实验室交流来运作，以开发共享的基因组资源、开放获取的数据库、合成论文和提案以及新的教育和研究工具。

This Research Coordination Network facilitates new interdisciplinary research collaborations that will advance our understanding of the genomic underpinnings of evolutionary processes important in shaping the ecology, physiology, behavior and diversification of organisms. The network brings together pioneers in the application of genomic approaches, researchers with long-term ecological and behavioral data, software developers and information management specialists to enrich, share, and connect large-scale data sets that provide the foundation for tackling fundamental questions of how organismal traits evolve. Products of this effort include an open-access data repository, a publically available genome browser, and a model of how diverse teams of scientists can collaborate to transform independent research across disciplines into a synthetic enterprise that will provide answers to significant biological questions. This Research Coordination Network is designed to address the evolutionary implications of sexual selection from the level of the genome, to physiology and behavior, to the ecosystem using manakins as a model system. These birds inhabit tropical forests, exhibit extraordinary physical and behavioral adaptations and are readily amenable for study. The network unites researchers across many disciplines to engage in a community-wide effort to enrich genomic resources through functional annotation, develop mechanisms to connect related but heterogeneous data, and apply these resources to understand the complex relationships between genomes and environment that produce form and function in living organisms. The network operates through annual meetings, workshops, working groups, and lab exchanges to develop shared genomic resources, an open-access data repository, synthetic papers and proposals, and new educational and research tools.