NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Investigating the Genetic Basis of Local Adaptation in Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis)

这一行动为2021财年NSF植物基因组生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为该研究员制定的研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与度的计划。布莱恩·雷蒂尼博士的这项研究和培训计划的标题是《调查黄星蓟(Centaurea Solstitiaris)局部适应的遗传基础》。该奖学金的主办机构是亚利桑那大学，赞助科学家是Katrina Dlugoch博士。黄蓟是一种主要的农业害虫，是美国西部最具生态和经济破坏性的入侵植物之一。因此，人们有相当大的兴趣来了解是什么允许黄蓟和其他类似的农业害虫如此咄咄逼人地传播。之前的研究表明，黄蓟已经进化成更适合加州当地环境条件，这可能是它迅速传播的原因之一。然而，在这一过程中发挥作用的特定基因，以及所涉及的遗传变异的来源仍不清楚。该项目将确定基因变异的来源和类型，这种变异有助于黄蓟的进化，使其更适合加利福尼亚州的当地环境条件。通过这样做，这项研究将揭示进化如何有助于黄蓟等农业有害生物的侵略性传播，并提供可能用于缓解未来农业有害生物传播的信息。这个项目的另一个目标是培训大学生使用所需的工具和技能集来生成地图，这些地图可以用来预测黄荆花等物种入侵的危险区域。在整个培训过程中，将创建一系列地图并提供给美国农业部，以帮助为管理部门提供有关入侵物种传播的决策信息。了解如何在基因流动的情况下保持局部适应仍然是进化生物学的一个持续研究领域。范围的扩大为实时研究基因流动的局部适应提供了难得的机会，但理论预测很快就超过了对这些预测的经验测试。黄蓟提供了弥合这一知识鸿沟的独特机会，因为尽管在其入侵范围内附近种群之间的基因流动，但适应当地环境条件的特征进化迅速发生。为了确定在这个系统中的基因流下，基因型、表型和环境之间的联系是如何实现的，本项目将确定：1)这次入侵中一个重要的适应性状--植株尺寸增加的遗传基础--使用遗传变异和表型变异之间的关联；2)遗传变异和环境变异之间的关联，这似乎是推动这种适应性状进化的环境条件；以及3)利用计算方法，评估混合物对适应的潜在贡献，从而确定促成适应性进化的遗传变异的来源。这项研究产生的所有数据将通过国家生物技术信息和仙女木中心的可搜索公共数据库公开提供。最终，这个项目将有助于从根本上理解当地适应的遗传架构如何有助于美国最有问题的入侵物种之一的范围扩大。这一奖项反映了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 action funds an NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Dr. Bryan Reatini is "Investigating the genetic basis of local adaptation in yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis)". The host institution for the fellowship is the University of Arizona and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Katrina Dlugosch.Yellow starthistle is a major agricultural pest and is among the most ecologically and economically damaging invasive plant species in the western United States. Consequently, there is considerable interest in understanding what allows yellow starthistle – and other agricultural pests like it – to spread so aggressively. Previous research has shown that yellow starthistle has evolved to become better suited to the local environmental conditions of California, which likely contributed to its rapid spread. Yet the specific genes that have played a role in this process, and the source of the genetic variation involved, remain unknown. This project will determine the source and type of genetic variation that has contributed to the evolution of yellow starthistle to become better suited to the local environmental conditions of California. In doing so, this research will inform how evolution can contribute to the aggressive spread of agricultural pests such as yellow starthistle, and provide information that may be used to mitigate the future spread of agricultural pests. Another objective of this project is to train university students with the tools and skillset required to generate maps that can be used to predict areas at risk of invasion by species like yellow starthistle. Throughout this training process, a collection of maps will be created and provided to the United States Department of Agriculture to help inform management decisions regarding the spread of invasive species.Understanding how local adaptation is maintained despite gene flow remains an ongoing area of research in evolutionary biology. Range expansions offer exceptional opportunities to study local adaptation with gene flow in real time, but theoretical predictions have quickly outpaced empirical tests of those predictions. Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) offers unique opportunities to close that knowledge gap, because adaptive trait evolution to local environmental conditions has occurred rapidly despite gene flow between nearby populations in its invaded range. To determine how connections between genotype, phenotype and environment have been achieved under gene flow in this system, this project will determine: 1) the genetic basis of an important adaptive trait in this invasion – increased plant size – using associations between genetic variation and phenotypic variation; 2) associations between genetic variation and environmental variation for environmental conditions that appear to be driving the evolution of this adaptive trait; and 3) the source of genetic variation contributing to adaptive evolution, using computational methods in order to evaluate the potential contribution of admixture to adaptation. All data generated by this research will be made publicly available via the searchable public databases of the National Center for Biotechnology Information and Dryad. Ultimately, this project will contribute to fundamental understanding of how the genetic architecture of local adaptation has contributed to range expansion, for one of the most problematic invasive species in the United States.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.