CAREER: The genomics of urbanization in house mice

野生动物无处不在，甚至在城市里。随着城市生态系统的发展，重要的是要了解城市如何影响野生动物。例如，生活在城市地区的动物可能有不同的饮食，经历不同类型的压力，并以不同的方式移动。随着时间的推移，这些差异会影响种群的进化和适应。 该项目将调查三个城乡配对的家鼠种群，并利用基因组数据调查城市环境的进化影响。家鼠分布广泛，在城市和农村地区都有发现，它们是一个遗传模型系统，使它们非常适合拟议的研究。了解城市如何影响家鼠可以帮助我们更好地管理它们，预测对其他生物的影响，并更多地了解进化过程。 该项目还旨在通过让学生和教师参与研究，并通过生成供更广泛社区使用的科学和教育资源，支持未来科学家的教育。该项目将整合生物体和基因组方法，以研究家鼠如何在城市环境中进化。首先，基因组分析将用于比较城市和农村环境中中性遗传变异的模式，并检测选择。 其次，性状变异，基因表达模式和功能数据的分析将用于确定城市和农村小鼠之间的差异，并将基因组变异与性状的潜在适应性变化联系起来。拟议的研究将解决有关城市和农村人口的遗传结构，城市适应的遗传基础，以及调节进化在适应中的作用等问题。本科生将直接参与拟议的研究，发展他们作为现场，实验室和计算科学家。此外，该项目的影响将扩大到包括高中教师，纳入多个本科课程，创建自然历史和基因组资源，并开发可用于K-16设置的教育活动和材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Wildlife is everywhere, even in cities. As urban ecosystems grow, it is important to understand how cities affect wildlife. For example, animals that live in urban areas may have different diets, experience different types of stress, and move around in different ways than animals in rural areas. Over time, those differences can shape how populations evolve and adapt. This project will survey house mouse populations in three urban-rural pairs and use genomic data to investigate the evolutionary impacts of urban environments. House mice are widespread, found in both cities and rural areas, and they are a genetic model system, making them well-suited for the proposed research. Understanding how cities impact house mice may help us better manage them, anticipate effects in other organisms, and understand more about evolutionary processes. The project also aims to support the education of future scientists through engaging students and teachers in research and by generating scientific and educational resources for use by the broader community.This project will integrate organismal and genomic approaches to investigate how house mice evolve in urban environments. First, genomic analyses will be used to compare patterns of neutral genetic variation in urban and rural environments and to detect selection. Second, analyses of trait variation, patterns of gene expression, and functional data will be used to identify differences among urban and rural mice and connect genomic variation to potentially adaptive changes in traits. The proposed research will address questions about genetic structure in urban and rural populations, the genetic basis of urban adaptation, and the role of regulatory evolution in adaptation. Undergraduates will participate directly in the proposed research, developing them as field, laboratory, and computational scientists. In addition, the impact of the project will be broadened by including high school teachers, incorporating multiple undergraduate courses, creating natural history and genomic resources, and developing educational activities and materials that can be used in K-16 settings.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.