BII-Design: Does variable genome instability impact lifespan differences between males and females and across species?

这个项目将设计一个新的研究所来研究为什么某些物种的雄性和雌性的寿命不同。在人类中，就像许多其他动物一样，女性往往比男性活得更长。然而，这种男性和女性之间的寿命差异并不是普遍的。在一些物种中，雌性寿命更长，而在其他物种中，雄性和雌性之间的寿命没有差异。目前尚不清楚为什么男性和女性在衰老和寿命方面存在差异。这个项目将通过汇集来自不同生物学领域的专家来解决这个问题，成立综合研究所：性别、衰老、基因组学和表观遗传学(IISAGE)。IISAGE将制定一项协调的研究计划，以调查基因组不稳定对不同物种的男性和女性寿命差异的影响。IISAGE还将为参与的学生建立跨学科培训计划。该项目将通过会议和网站向科学界进行宣传，并将专门招募代表人数不足的群体参加该研究所。在许多物种中，基因组的不稳定性随着年龄的增长而增加，被认为是导致老龄化的重要因素。然而，关于基因组不稳定如何在衰老和寿命方面可变地影响男性和女性，以及这种影响是否在具有不同生活史和性别决定机制的物种之间存在差异，人们的认识存在显著差距。IISAGE将建立一个由分子生物学、生理学、生态学和进化生物学方面的各种专业知识组成的科学家社区，以全面解决基因组不稳定如何影响整个动物界寿命的性别差异。具体地说，IISAGE在BII设计阶段的目标是：1)完善IISAGE未来研究所涉及的具体问题和采用的方法；2)为IISAGE成员制定跨学科培训/职业发展计划；以及3)建立IISAGE成员之间有效数据管理和信息交换所需的程序。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 project will design a new institute to investigate why males and females of some species differ in how long they live. In humans, like in many other animals, females tend to live longer than males. However, this lifespan difference between males and females is not universal. In some species females live longer, and in other species there is no lifespan difference between males and females. Why there are differences in aging and lifespan between males and females is currently unknown. This project will address this question by bringing together experts from diverse fields of biology to form the Integration Institute: Sex, Aging, Genomics, and Epigenetics (IISAGE). IISAGE will develop a coordinated research plan to investigate the contribution of genome instability to differences in lifespan between males and females across species. IISAGE will also establish an interdisciplinary training program for participating students. The project will conduct outreach to the scientific community through conferences and a website, and will specifically recruit underrepresented groups to participate in the institute.Genome instability increases with age in many species and is considered an important contributor to aging. However, there is a significant gap in knowledge concerning how genome instability variably impacts males versus females in aging and lifespan, and whether this differs across species with diverse life histories and mechanisms of sex determination. IISAGE will build a community of scientists with various expertise in molecular biology, physiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology to comprehensively address how genome instability impacts sex differences in lifespan across the animal kingdom. Specifically, the goals of IISAGE in the BII-Design phase are to: 1) Refine the specific questions addressed and methods employed by future IISAGE research; 2) Develop an interdisciplinary training/career development program for the members of IISAGE; and 3) Establish the procedures necessary for efficient data management and information exchange between the members of IISAGE.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.