DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The role of volatile organic compounds in antagonistic selection in the moss Ceratodon purpureus

这个项目将调查雄性和雌性在自然选择上的差异如何影响苔藓类植物紫毛驼毛气味差异的遗传基础。在许多动植物中，雄性和雌性在形态和生理上表现出许多不同。之所以会出现这些差异，是因为在一个性别身上有益的品质，在异性身上可能是有害的。尽管男性和女性之间的身体差异非常明显，但我们对产生这些差异的遗传机制以及它们的许多好处知之甚少。在Ceratodon，雌性苔藓会产生气味来吸引携带雄性植物精子的小昆虫，从而促进生殖，而雄性植物几乎不会产生这样的气味。这项研究将验证这样一种观点，即这些气味的产生对男性来说是昂贵的，而且产生气味的基因在男性身上是存在的，但被关闭了。此外，该项目将包括指导本科生和高中生，包括来自科学界代表性不足的群体的个人。该项目将使用数量遗传学和转录实验来了解影响性别二态气味特征的进化力量。香水是由挥发性有机化合物(VOC)组成的鸡尾酒。对家系人群中挥发性有机化合物产生的测量提供了对雄性和雌性挥发性有机化合物产生的加性遗传方差和协方差的估计。竞争性交配试验将被用来评估雄性和雌性在存在和不存在散布精子的节肢动物的情况下，VOC产生的差异对健康的影响。高和低VOC产生的雄性和雌性的RNAseq分析将与现有的生化途径数据库结合使用，以确定与VOC产生有关的转录本。转录工作将为研究全基因组遗传冲突的解决奠定基础。

This project will investigate how differences in natural selection on males and females effects the genetic basis of scent differences in the moss, Ceratodon purpureus. In many plants and animals, males and females exhibit many differences in form and physiology. These differences are thought to arise because qualities that are beneficial in one sex may be deleterious in the opposite sex. Although physical differences between males and females are very conspicuous, we have a poor understanding of the genetic mechanisms that generate these differences, and many of their benefits. In Ceratodon, female mosses produce scents to attract small insects that carry sperm from male plants, promoting reproduction, while male plants make few such scents. This research will test the idea that the production of these scents is costly in males, and that the genes for scent production are present but turned off in males. In addition, the project will involve mentoring both undergraduate and high school students, including individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences.The project will use quantitative genetics and transcriptomic experiments to understand the evolutionary forces shaping sexually dimorphic scent profiles. Scents are comprised of a cocktail of volatile organic compunds (VOC). Measures of VOC production in a pedigreed population is providing an estimate of the additive genetic variance and covariance for VOC production in males and females. Competitive mating trials will be used to evaluate the fitness consequences of variation in VOC production in males and females, both in the presence and absence of sperm-dispersing arthropods. RNAseq analyses in high and low VOC producing males and females will be used in conjunction with existing biochemical pathway databases to identify transcripts linked to VOC production. The transcriptomic work will lay the foundation for studying the resolution of genome-wide genetic conflict.