EAPSI: Finding Evolutionary Links and Genes in Adaptive Radiations of Gobies by Targeted Gene Capture

虎鱼组成了一个非常大的、复杂的鱼类群体，几乎在所有的水生生态系统中都能找到。这个种群中的物种可以作为生态和进化专业化的典范，使它们能够辐射到许多不同的栖息地。将使用一种新的基因技术来研究虎鱼的关系，该技术还将揭示使这些物种能够适应环境的基因。此外，它还将促进人们对有机体如何随时间变化并辐射以填补自然界中新角色的理解。这项研究将在上海海洋大学的实验室里与李晨鸿博士合作进行，李晨红博士开发了这项原始技术。李博士是系统学领域的领军人物，他为该领域开发了许多遗传和统计工具。他的实验室可以获得这个项目中基因捕获所需的所有设备和技术。该项目将使用一种新的基因捕获方法来研究戈壁虎科内虾虎鱼的深层系统发育，以确定在广泛的分类群中蛋白质编码基因的定向选择信号。通过基因捕获将被选择基因座的识别与解决困难关系相结合的能力提供了前所未有的机会，以增加科学界对适应性辐射和物种形成的总体理解。由该奖项资助的研究将实现这一点，方法是利用靶标浓缩基因捕获和广泛的分类群采样获得的大量蛋白质编码标记，创建戈壁虎科的高分辨率系统发育图。该奖项由东亚及太平洋暑期学院计划资助一名美国研究生进行暑期研究，由美国国家科学基金会和台湾科技部共同资助。

Gobies comprise a very large, complex group of fishes found in nearly all aquatic ecosystems. Species in this group can serve as models for ecological and evolutionary specializations that have allowed them to radiate into many different habitats. The relationships of gobies will be examined using a new genetic technique that will also reveal the genes that enable adaptations of these species to their environments. Additionally, it will advance understanding of how organisms can change over time and radiate to fill new roles in nature. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Chenhong Li, who developed the original technique, at his laboratory in Shanghai Ocean University. Dr. Li is a leading researcher in systematics who has developed many genetic and statistical tools for the field. His laboratory has access to all equipment and technology needed for gene-capture in this project. This project will investigate the deep phylogeny of gobies within the Gobiidae using a new gene-capture method to identify signals of directional selection in protein-coding genes across a broad suite of taxa. The ability to combine the identification of loci under selection with the resolution of difficult relationships via gene capture offers unprecedented opportunity to increase the scientific community?s understanding of adaptive radiations and speciation in general. The research funded by this award will accomplish this by creating a high-resolution phylogeny of the Gobiidae using a large number of protein-coding markers obtained by target-enrichment gene capture coupled with broad taxon sampling. This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.