NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: How does trait regulation evolve from greater environmental control to greater genetic control?

该行动资助2021财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。在发育过程中，环境和遗传因素都会影响生物体特征的形式和功能。重要的是，每个因素——环境和基因——对任何特定性状的影响程度在进化过程中都可能发生变化。人们对这种从环境控制到遗传控制的转变的分子基础的一般原理知之甚少。填补这一空白不仅对理解生物新特征和适应的起源至关重要，而且也与医学、农业和保护等应用领域有关。这项研究旨在确定性状调控从主要环境向主要遗传转变的标志，这可以应用于其他性状和生物体，并将开始解释控制基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的规则。这个项目的重点是环境敏感发育的进化损失，这一过程被称为遗传同化。遗传同化有着悠久的历史阴谋和争议，这在很大程度上是因为人们对其分子基础知之甚少。该奖学金的研究部分将新兴的模式线虫系统与不同的方法结合起来，包括实验进化，比较基因组学和功能遗传学，以阐明遗传同化的分子基础以及它们在微观进化和宏观进化尺度上的特殊或保守程度。具体而言，该研究将调查线虫从具有两种可选的环境诱导的资源利用表型转变为仅具有其中一种表型时，物种内部和物种之间发生的进化变化。这种培训包括在研究的各个方面与来自代表性不足群体的本科生和高中生进行合作和指导。总之，本项目解决了生态进化发育生物学中一个关键的未解决的问题。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Both environmental and genetic inputs during development influence the form and function of an organism’s traits. Importantly, the extent to which each factor—the environment and genetics—contributes to any given trait can change during evolution. General principles underlying the molecular basis of such a transition from environmental to genetic control are poorly understood. Filling this gap is not only critical for understanding the origins of new traits and adaptation in organisms, but doing so is also relevant to such applied fields as medicine, agriculture, and conservation. This research seeks to identify a signature of the shift in a trait’s regulation from primarily environmental to primarily genetic, that can be applied to other traits and organisms, and that will begin to explain rules governing the interactions between genomes, the environment, and phenotypes.This project focuses on the evolutionary loss of environmentally sensitive development, a process termed genetic assimilation. Genetic assimilation has a long history of intrigue and controversy, due in no small part to the fact that its molecular bases are poorly understood. The research component of this fellowship combines an emerging model nematode system with diverse approaches including experimental evolution, comparative genomics, and functional genetics to clarify genetic assimilation’s molecular bases and the extent to which they are idiosyncratic or conserved at microevolutionary and macroevolutionary scales. Specifically, the research will investigate the evolutionary changes that occur both within and between species when nematodes transition from possessing two alternative, environmentally induced, resource-use phenotypes to only possessing one of these phenotypes. This training includes collaboration with and mentorship of undergraduate and of high-school students from underrepresented groups in all aspects of the research. In sum, this project addresses a key unresolved issue in ecological evolutionary developmental biology.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.