NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

这一行动资助了2020财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学领域代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。主要目的是利用甲虫异常多样化的雄配子(精子)和雌性生殖道(FRT)来探索生殖系统的快速进化。研究人员将收集地面甲虫(Carabidae科)、旋毛虫(Gyrinidae科)和Adephaga亚目(约40,000种)相关甲虫的配子-FRT结构、行为和多组学数据，以扩大我们对配子-FRT共同多样化及其在新物种起源中的作用的理解。雄配子通常被认为是一个单独的细胞，但许多研磨和旋转甲虫通过将它们连接在一起，用一个富含蛋白质的杆状结构，显示出密切相关物种之间的明显差异，从而形成一组配子(通常被称为“结合体”)。这些结合物在FRT内协同运动，但个别雄配子必须在受精前解体。研究人员将利用并进一步开发甲虫系统，通过进一步促进科学博士后研究人员的职业生涯，并将来自STEM学科历史上代表性较低的群体的中学生和本科生纳入项目的不同阶段，从通过有指导的徒步旅行收集标本到与甲虫进行实验室练习。研究人员将在步甲科和金龟科进行密集采样，收集约300个物种的多元配子和FRT形态数据，并进行活体研究。这将在系统发育框架内进行分析，以解决雄性配子-FRT相互作用的生物学问题，以及这些谱系中配子-FRT共同多样化和速率共同变异的模式。Gamete-FRT的共同多样化可能是“物种形成的引擎”，但这一预测从未得到检验。为了验证精子更精细的物种将拥有更快的物种形成率的预测，将推断出阿德弗尼亚的血统多样化速度以及雄配子和FRT特征的进化速度。将产生代表独立精子型起源的特定物种的睾丸转录本和无配子精子型蛋白质组，以探索这种不寻常表型的遗传和结构基础。该项目的推广计划将(1)鼓励中学生进行自然历史调查，(2)配备移动实验室，将相同的教育内容带到课堂上，(3)将LSAMP本科生包括在研究和户外活动中。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. A primary aim is to explore the rapid evolution of reproductive systems using the extraordinarily diverse male gametes (spermatozoa) and female reproductive tracts (FRTs) of beetles. The researchers will gather gamete-FRT structural, behavioral, and multi-omic data from ground beetles (family Carabidae), whirligig beetles (family Gyrinidae), and related beetles in the suborder Adephaga (~40,000 species) to expand our understanding of gamete-FRT co-diversification and its role in the genesis of new species. Male gametes are typically thought of as functioning as a single individual cell, but many ground and whirligig beetles make groups of them (often called “conjugates”) by joining them together with a protein-rich rod that shows obvious differences between closely related species. These conjugates travel cooperatively within the FRT, but individual male gametes must dissociate prior to fertilization. The researchers will leverage and further develop the adephagan beetle system to advance the field of evolutionary biology and male-female interactions by further promoting the career of a postdoctoral researcher in the sciences as well as by including middle school and undergraduate students from groups that are also historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines in various phases of the project, from the collection of specimens via guided hikes to laboratory exercises working with beetles.The researchers will sample densely in Carabidae and Gyrinidae, gathering multivariate gamete and FRT morphological data for ~300 species, together with in vivo studies, which will be analyzed in a phylogenetic framework to resolve the biology of male gamete-FRT interactions and patterns of gamete-FRT co-diversification and rate co-variation across these lineages. Gamete-FRT co-diversification may be an "engine of speciation," but this prediction has never been tested. Lineage diversification rates and evolutionary rates of male gamete and FRT traits will be inferred for the adephagans to test the prediction that species with more elaborate spermatozoa will have faster speciation rates. Testis transcriptomes and gamete free spermatostyle proteomes of select species representing independent spermatostyle origins will be generated to explore the genetic and structural basis of this unusual phenotype. The project’s outreach program will (1) encourage natural history investigations by middle-school students, (2) outfit a mobile lab to bring the same educational content to classrooms, and (3) include LSAMP undergraduate students in both research and outreach.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.