NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020: Development and Evolution of Olfactory Perception in Response to Temperature

该行动资助了NSF 2020财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。该项目将检查在不同温度条件下饲养的鱼的基因表达、大脑结构和行为。该研究员将开展研究，调查发育过程中所经历的温度如何影响大脑发育，这将有助于了解生物在面对全球气候变化时如何维持或改变生殖行为。环境温度会改变基因的表达，并能改变生物体的生长和发育方式。该项目还将评估潜在的进化压力，以作用于对温度变化作出反应的不同基因。这项工作将为研究员提供分子、生理和生物信息学技术方面的培训，以及生命科学方面的专业发展。该项目将为一所公立大学的许多代表性不足的本科生提供研究机会，该研究员将参加旨在吸引女孩和代表性不足的少数民族学生参与STEM领域的外展活动。该项目将通过测量整个发育过程中嗅觉处理中心的生长和功能来探索温度与大脑发育之间的关系。sonic hedgehog基因的表达在发育过程中调节脊椎动物大脑区域的背-腹侧模式，这可能通过改变感觉处理来影响生物体的适应性。温度是环境中无处不在的一部分，能够影响许多发育过程，并且预计在未来几年内将在世界各地发生变化。该研究员将生成不同生态相关温度下发育过程中超音hedgehog基因表达的反应规范，并量化其对神经解剖学的影响。这些温度效应的终身后果将通过在成年生物体的端脑不同部位检测社会相关嗅觉刺激的行为和生理测量来评估。该项目还将测量整个转录组在不同温度下的差异表达，并使用系统发育分析来探索进化过程的潜力，以提供对温度响应的补充或替代方法。该研究员将接受前沿生物技术方面的培训，以扩大他们的研究能力，并通过教育经历和在线传播产生公众外展。该项目对应对全球气候变化的生物多样性和保护管理具有社会意义。为了扩大这项工作的影响，该研究员将让来自代表性不足群体的学生参与这项研究，并向女孩进行推广，以提高她们对STEM的参与。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. The project will examine gene expression, brain structure, and behavior of fish raised under different thermal conditions. The fellow will conduct research to investigate how temperature experienced during development affects brain development, which will provide an understanding of how organisms maintain or alter reproductive behaviors in the face of global climate change. Environmental temperatures alter the expression of genes, and can change how organisms grow and develop. The project will also assess the potential for evolutionary pressures to act upon different genes that respond to changing temperatures. The work will provide the fellow training in molecular, physiological and bioinformatic techniques, as well as professional development in the life sciences. The project will provide research opportunities to many underrepresented undergraduate students at a public university, and the fellow will take part in outreach activities designed to engage girls and underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. This project will explore relationships between temperature and development of the brain, by measuring the growth and function of olfactory processing centers throughout development. Expression of the sonic hedgehog gene regulates the dorsal-ventral patterning of vertebrate brain regions during development, which may impact an organism's fitness by altering sensory processing. Temperature is a pervasive part of the environment, capable of influencing many developmental processes and expected to change around the world in years to come. The fellow will generate reaction norms of sonic hedgehog expression during development under different ecologically relevant temperatures and quantify effects on neuroanatomy. The life long-consequences of these temperature effects will be evaluated by behaviorally and physiologically measuring the detection of socially relevant olfactory stimuli in different parts of the telencephalon of the adult organism. The project will also measure differential expression of the entire transcriptome under different temperatures and use phylogenetic analysis to explore the potential for evolutionary processes to provide supplemental, or alternative, methods of response to temperature. The fellow will be trained in front-line biological techniques to expand their research abilities and generate public outreach through educational experiences and online dissemination. The project bears societal implications for biodiversity and conservation management in response to global climate change. To broaden the impact of the work, the fellow will engage students from underrepresented groups in the research and conduct outreach to girls to increase participation in STEM.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.