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

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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.