Doctoral Dissertation Research: The phenotypic consequences of adaptive introgression in naturally hybridizing primates

最近的研究结果表明，与尼安德特人等现已灭绝的近亲杂交，可能有助于人类在全球迅速扩张的过程中适应新环境，并且可能仍然有助于今天人类在疾病易感性方面的差异。然而，在其他灵长类动物中发现的杂交益处的程度尚不清楚。这个博士论文项目将使用灵长类动物的自然杂交模型来研究物种之间有益的遗传变异转移的特征。它还将询问杂交是否会影响狒狒的毛色和成熟时间，这些特征在交配竞争、生育或生存中可能很重要。这项研究将为杂交在灵长类动物进化中的作用提供新的见解，并揭示杂交在未来如何影响灵长类动物的多样性。它还将通过设计新的教育活动、为本科生提供指导研究机会以及支持联合项目负责人的博士培训，为小学、本科和研究生阶段的STEM教育做出贡献。最后，该项目将通过免费的公众演讲促进公众对科学的参与，这些演讲也将在网上提供。为了研究灵长类动物杂交的潜在好处，该项目将整合野生狒狒的基因组和观测数据。它将验证杂交促进少量有利遗传变异在黄狒狒和阿努比斯狒狒之间转移的假设。为此，将为跨越狒狒杂交区域的多个种群生成基因组数据。这些数据将采用三种互补的方法来识别受适应性渗入影响的遗传变异。潜在的适应性渐渗案例将被研究与黄狒狒和阿努比斯狒狒之间差异表达的基因重叠。该项目还将测试一种假设，即遗传祖先可以预测杂交区域中心一个经过充分研究的狒狒种群的头发颜色和成熟时间。它将评估祖先对这些特征的影响在数量和程度上是否在基因组中有所不同，根据证据表明，头发和皮肤颜色特征往往比成熟时间等生活史特征具有更简单的遗传基础。最后，该项目将测试基因组中与头发颜色或成熟时间有关的祖先相关差异的区域是否为适应性基因渗入的候选区域。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。

Recent findings suggest that intermixing with now-extinct relatives like the Neanderthals may have helped humans adapt to new environments during their rapid expansion around the globe, and may still contribute to human differences in disease susceptibility today. However, the extent to which benefits to hybridization are also found in other primates is not well understood. This doctoral dissertation project will use a model for natural hybridization in primates to investigate signatures of beneficial transfer of genetic variants between species. It will also ask whether hybridization affects hair color and maturation timing in baboons, traits that may be important in mate competition, fertility, or survival. The research will provide novel insight into hybridization’s role in primate evolution and shed light on how hybridization may influence primate diversity in the future. It will also contribute to STEM education at the elementary, undergraduate, and graduate levels through the design of new educational activities, mentored research opportunities for undergraduate students, and support for the co-PI’s PhD training. Finally, this project will facilitate public engagement with science through free-to-the-public presentations that will also be accessible online.To investigate the potential benefits of hybridization in primates, the project will integrate genomic and observational data from wild baboons. It will test the hypothesis that hybridization facilitates the transfer of a small number of advantageous genetic variants between yellow baboons and anubis baboons. To do so, genomic data will be generated for multiple populations spanning a baboon hybrid zone. These data will be subjected to three complementary methods to identify genetic variants affected by adaptive introgression. Cases of potential adaptive introgression will be investigated for overlap with genes that are also differentially expressed between yellow and anubis baboons. The project also will test the hypothesis that genetic ancestry predicts hair color and maturation timing in a well-studied baboon population at the center of the hybrid zone. It will assess whether ancestry effects on these traits differ in number and magnitude across the genome, based on evidence that hair and skin color traits tend to have a simpler genetic basis than life history traits like maturation timing. Finally, the project will test whether regions in the genome that contribute to ancestry-related differences in hair color or maturation timing are candidates for adaptive introgression.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.