Collaborative Research: RoL: The evo-devo of male pregnancy and its effects on the brood pouch microbiome

新特征的进化可以改变生物体与环境相互作用以生存、生长和繁殖的方式。对大多数进化创新背后的潜在基因和发育变化的深入了解很少，对出现新特征的生物体及其在群落中与之相互作用的生物体的生态后果的理解也是如此。在理解上的一个特别差距是，新特征的进化如何影响其相关微生物群落的生物多样性。这个项目将通过研究一项了不起的创新来填补我们知识上的空白--在海马、海豚和海豚中怀孕的雄性。该项目将包括创建新的基因组序列，并详细研究使男性怀孕成为可能的胚胎孵化结构的发育遗传基础。还将研究袋进化对袋中群落微生物的复杂性和功能的影响，以及这种独特的与宿主相关的微生物群如何影响袋中胚胎的适合性。该项目将通过身临其境的外展和有针对性的支持计划，为来自代表性不足群体的高中生、教师和本科生提供研究培训。该项目还将通过对博士生和博士后学者的教育支持对下一代科学家的培训。将通过公开演讲和创建博物馆展览来实现对普通公众的推广，并结合支持K-12教育的网络资源。雄性怀孕，伴随着形态多样的胚胎孵化结构，是共生鱼类的一项决定性的进化创新。该项目的目标是建立对这种显着的联会新奇生物的发育遗传起源及其在调节与宿主相关的微生物区系的多水平生态相互作用中的作用的综合理解。该项目将包括生产19个新的带注释的参考基因组，对整个联会世系进行战略性采样，在一个比较框架中对发育中的囊进行形态发生分析和转录/表观遗传学分析，以利用家族中复杂的孵化结构的重复和独立进化，以及分析育雏袋的生物复杂性，作为与囊相关的微生物组组装的决定因素。该项目完成后，将为合并体的基因组结构进化提供新的见解，确定孵化囊发育过程中涉及的蛋白质序列和基因调控变化，并解决孵化组织的进化是否创造了微生物区系宿主调控的专门化，从而对孵化后代产生影响。这项工作将吸引新的研究人员到Syngnathids进行进化创新和多样化的研究。该项目将为高中生、教师和来自代表性不足群体的本科生提供研究培训，并将支持研究生和博士后学者的教育，包括有机会参加密集的短期课程，学习下一代测序、生物信息学、复杂统计分析和基因组编辑。对普通公众的教育推广将通过私人投资机构的公开讲座和创建关于联会生物学的博物馆展览来完成，该展览将与针对K-12教育的相关网络资源相匹配。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The evolution of novel traits can change the way that organisms interact with their environments to survive, grow and reproduce. Deep knowledge of the underlying genes and developmental changes that underly most evolutionary innovations is sparse, as is understanding of the ecological consequences for both the organisms in which novel traits emerged and the organisms with which they interact in communities. A particular gap in understanding is how the evolution of novel traits influences the biodiversity of their associated microbial communities. This project will help fill this gap in our knowledge by studying a remarkable innovation – male pregnancy in seahorses, pipefish and seadragons. This project will include the creation of new genome sequences and detailed studies of the developmental genetic underpinnings of the embryo brooding structures that make male pregnancy possible. The consequences of pouch evolution on the complexity and function of the community microbes in the pouch will also be studied, as well as how this unique host-associated microbiota can affect the fitness of embryos in the pouch. This project will provide research training to high school students, teachers, and undergraduates from underrepresented groups through immersive outreach and targeted support programs. The project will also support training of the next generation of scientists via education of Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars. Outreach to general public will be accomplished through public talks and through creation of a museum exhibit on syngnathid biology paired with web resources to support K-12 education.Male pregnancy, accompanied by morphologically diverse embryo brooding structures, is a defining evolutionary innovation in syngnathid fishes. The goal of this project is to build an integrative understanding of the developmental genetic origin of this remarkable syngnathid novelty and its role in mediating multi-level ecological interactions with host-associated microbiota. This project will include production of 19 new annotated reference genomes strategically sampled across the syngnathid lineage, morphogenetic analysis and transcriptional/epigenetic profiling of the developing pouch in a comparative framework that leverages the repeated, independent evolution of complex brooding structures in the family, and analysis of brood pouch biocomplexity as a determinant of pouch-associated microbiome assembly. When complete, this project will provide novel insights into genome structural evolution in syngnathids, identify protein sequence and gene regulation changes involved in brood pouch development, and address whether the evolution of the brooding tissues created specialization in host regulation of microbiota with consequences for brooded progeny. The work will attract new researchers to syngnathids for studies of evolutionary innovation and diversification. The project will provide research training to high school students, teachers, and undergraduates from underrepresented groups, and will support education of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, including the opportunity to take intense short courses to learn next generation sequencing, bioinformatics, complex statistical analyses, and genome editing. Educational outreach to general public will be accomplished through public lectures by the PIs, and through creation of a museum exhibit on syngnathid biology, which will be paired with an associated web resource directed toward K-12 education.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.