Research Initiation Award: Evolutionary and ecological impacts of horizontal gene transfer in arthropods

历史上的黑人学院和大学本科项目（HBCU-UP）研究启动奖（RIAs）为hbcu中开始建立研究项目的STEM初级教师提供支持，也为那些在担任行政职务后可能已经回到教职员工队伍或需要重新定向和重建研究项目的职业中期教师提供支持。教师可以在自己的学校、美国国家科学基金会资助的中心、研究密集型机构或国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，斯佩尔曼学院（Spelman College）将通过繁殖以外的方式，对生物之间遗传物质的移动进行研究。该项目将为斯佩尔曼学院和罗切斯特大学的少数族裔本科生提供宝贵的研究经验和指导。该项目有可能成为一个典范，通过将前沿研究和研究技术注入斯佩尔曼的课堂，增加少数族裔女性攻读STEM学位的人数。此外，该项目将帮助斯佩尔曼建立其研究能力，并提高其本科女性的教育和研究经验。本项目的目的是鉴定和表征细菌和真菌在生态位共享节肢动物物种之间的水平基因转移（HGTs），特别是在血食性和韧皮部食性节肢动物之间。具体而言，本研究旨在：确定共享生态位的多个节肢动物物种基因组中的hgt；2)确定经鉴定的HT基因在其受体节肢动物宿主中的潜在功能、来源和转移机制。Aim 1的结果将允许迄今为止对来自多个供体物种的多个宿主节肢动物物种的hgt进行最大规模的比较。获得的结果数据集将用于使用各种生物信息学工具以及分子方法来识别基因功能、供体物种、转移机制和转移率的模式。这项工作的发现将允许更好地理解HGT在真核生物中产生表型新颖性的作用。这项工作所产生的知识和信息将有助于解决围绕HGT在真核生物中的机制、速率和作用的问题，并有助于基因组进化和基因调控和功能化的工作。这项工作将与罗切斯特大学合作进行，研究将纳入以研究为基础的生态学课程。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM junior faculty at HBCUs who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who may have returned to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who needs to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, Spelman College will conduct research on the movement of genetic material between organisms by means other than reproduction. This project will provide valuable research experience and mentorship for several minority undergraduate females at Spelman College and also during their summers at the University of Rochester. The project has the potential to be a model for increasing the number of minority females pursuing degree programs in STEM by infusing cutting-edge research and research techniques into the Spelman classroom. In addition, the project will help Spelman build its research capacity and enhance the educational and research experiences of their undergraduate females. The objective of this project is to identify and characterize horizontal gene transfers (HGTs) of bacterial and fungal origin among niche-sharing arthropod species, specifically among blood-feeding and phloem-feeding arthropods. Specifically, this study aims to: Identify HGTs in the genomes of multiple arthropod species that share an ecological niche; and 2) Determine the potential functions, origins, and transfer mechanisms of identified HT genes in their recipient arthropod hosts. The results from Aim 1 would allow for the largest comparison of HGTs in multiple host arthropod species from multiple donor species done to date. The resulting data set obtained will be used to identify patterns in gene function, donor species, transfer mechanisms, and transfer rates using a variety of bioinformatic tools, as well as molecular methods. Findings from this work will allow for a better understanding of the role that HGT plays in generating phenotypic novelty in eukaryotes. The knowledge and information generated by this work will help to address questions surrounding the mechanisms, rates, and roles of HGT in eukaryotes, as well as contribute to work on genome evolution and gene regulation and functionalization. This work will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Rochester and the research will be incorporated into a research-based ecology course.