Experimental tests of the role genetic architecture, resource competition, and gene flow play during speciation

学生们在生物课上学到的第一课就是生命是由物种组成的；长得很像并且有相似DNA的生物体群。物种的模式是如此普遍，以至于为什么会出现这种模式的问题经常被忽视。为什么生命没有进化成一个单一的超级有机体，而是一系列物种，或者为什么它进化成离散的集群，而不是一个连续体？研究物种形成过程的研究人员旨在回答这些基本问题。这个项目是第一个将物种形成的研究扩展到病毒的项目。直到最近，人们还认为病毒的多样性是沿着一个连续体排列的，并没有合并成不同的物种。关于病毒遗传学的新信息显示，病毒确实会形成不同的簇。研究人员将利用实验室实验和最先进的生物技术来确定不同的生物变量如何影响病毒的物种形成。这项研究将增加对物种形成的一般理解，以及提高我们对病毒进化驱动因素的理解。​2016年，研究人员在《科学》杂志上发表了一篇具有里程碑意义的论文，报告称他们观察到一种名为噬菌体lambda的病毒进化成两个新物种。这是一个独特的观察结果，因为在实验室实验过程中，物种形成被认为需要很长时间才能观察到，因为当时，病毒是否形成物种是有争议的。该研究小组在先前的研究结果的基础上，确定了三种生物变量——遗传结构、资源竞争和基因流动——如何影响lambda的物种形成。为了实现这一目标，研究人员将采用合成生物学技术来测量lambda的适应性景观，计算机程序来模拟和预测lambda的进化，以及进化实验来测试预测。此外，还将创建一个教育模块，向学生讲授一门名为“噬菌体猎人”的课程，内容涉及病毒物种形成和物种概念。噬菌体猎人在世界各地的大学授课，并通过真实的研究经验提供培训。该模块的目标之一是让学生通过生物信息学分析发现新的病毒物种来进行研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

One of the first lessons students receive in biology class is that life is organized into species; clusters of organisms that look alike and share similar DNA. The pattern of species is so ubiquitous that the question of why this pattern occurs is often overlooked. Why has life not evolved into a single superorganism rather an array of species, or why has it evolved into discrete clusters rather than a continuum? Researchers who study the process called speciation aim to answer these fundamental questions. This project is one of the first of its kind to extend the research of speciation to viruses. Until recently, it was thought that viral diversity was arrayed along a continuum and did not coalesce into distinct species. New information on viral genetics has revealed that viruses do indeed form into distinct clusters. The researchers will use laboratory experiments and state of the art biotechnologies to determine how different biological variables affect viral speciation. This research will add to a general understanding of speciation, as well as to improve our understanding of the drivers of viral evolution. The researchers will design teaching modules for undergraduate students to learn about virus classification and speciation, while also contributing to virology research. In 2016, the researchers published a landmark paper in the journal Science where they reported observing a virus called bacteriophage lambda evolve into two new species. This was a unique observation because speciation was thought to take too long to observe during the course of a laboratory experiment and because at the time, it was debatable whether or not viruses formed into species. The research group is building on this previous result by determining how three biological variables – genetic architecture, resource competition, and gene flow – affect lambda’s speciation. To accomplish this, the researchers will employ synthetic biology technologies to measure the fitness landscape of lambda, computer programs to simulate and predict lambda evolution, and evolution experiments to test the predictions. In addition, an education module will be created to teach students in a course called Phage Hunters about viral speciation and species concepts. Phage Hunters is taught at universities worldwide and provides training through authentic research experiences. One of the goals of the module will be to have students perform research by discovering new viral species through bioinformatic analyses.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.