NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Predicting how climate change will impact insect adaptation to host plant resistance

该行动资助了NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，即研究基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。草食性昆虫的进化与其寄主植物的变化密切相关。许多植物具有防御特性（例如，诱导产生有毒的次级代谢物），使它们能够自然地耐受和/或阻止昆虫植食性。然而，性状表达的波动可能会促进昆虫适应，以克服这些防御（毒力）。与全球气候变化相关的气候因素可以破坏植物防御表达，从而改变植物对昆虫食草动物的易感性。这些变化是否也会影响毒力的发展仍然未知，这是该项目旨在填补的一个重要知识空白。了解这些进化的相互作用对于维护全球粮食安全至关重要。在农业生产系统中，抗虫作物提高了植物生产力，但毒力威胁着它们作为可持续害虫管理工具的寿命。该项目的成果将得到广泛传播，外联工作的重点是提高公众对抗虫作物的认识。该研究员将开发和传播学习模块，以高中学生在传统上服务不足的群体，和额外的推广，农业利益相关者将帮助种植者考虑转基因和自然抗性作物时，种植决策。使用大豆和大豆蚜虫作为一个模型系统，该项目将描述如何一个非生物因素，水分胁迫，影响蚜虫适应宿主植物抗性（HPR）。大豆植物激素浓度将被用作一个标志，以确定如何结合蚜虫和水分胁迫相互作用，以改变HPR的表达。然后，研究员将评估这些非生物诱导的大豆变化如何影响蚜虫，通过使用生命表分析比较有毒和易感蚜虫的适应性。同步RNA测序还将表征不同气候情景下蚜虫应激基因的表达。最后，实验性围隔生态系统将测试水分胁迫是否会改变蚜虫种群内的毒力频率。总的来说，这些实验有望直接将宿主植物气候胁迫与蚜虫的种群水平反应联系起来，提高我们对气候变化可能促进毒力的机制的理解。在整个项目中，研究员将通过分子生物学和生物信息学方面的培训扩大技术技能。通过参与指导培训计划和拓展非学术受众，将开发额外的专业技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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. Insect herbivore evolution is tightly linked to changes in their host plants. Many plants possess defensive traits (e.g., induced production of toxic secondary metabolites) that enable them to naturally tolerate and/or deter insect herbivory. However, fluctuations in trait expression may promote insect adaptations to overcome these defenses (virulence). Climate factors associated with global climate change can disrupt plant defense expression, subsequently altering plant susceptibility to insect herbivores. Whether these changes also affect the development of virulence remains unknown, an important knowledge gap that this project aims to fill. Understanding these evolutionary interactions is critical for preserving global food security. Within agricultural production systems, insect resistant crops enhance plant productivity, but virulence threatens their longevity as a sustainable pest management tool. Results from this project will be broadly disseminated, with outreach efforts focused on increasing public awareness about insect resistant crops. The Fellow will develop and disseminate learning modules to high school students in traditionally underserved groups, and additional outreach to agricultural stakeholders will help growers consider genetically modified and naturally resistant crops when making planting decisions.Using soybeans and soybean aphids as a model system, the project will characterize how one abiotic factor, water stress, impacts aphid adaptation to host plant resistance (HPR). Soybean phytohormone concentrations will be used as a marker to determine how combined aphid and water stress interact to alter HPR expression. The Fellow will then assess how these abiotic-induced changes to soybeans impact aphids by comparing fitness in virulent and susceptible aphids using life table analyses. Concurrent RNA sequencing will also characterize aphid stress gene expression under the different climate scenarios. Finally, experimental mesocosms will test whether water stress alters the frequency of virulence within an aphid population. Collectively, these experiments are expected to directly link host plant climate stress to population level responses in aphids, improving our understanding of the mechanisms by which climate change may facilitate virulence. Throughout this project, the Fellow will expand technical skills through training in molecular biology and bioinformatics. Additional professional skills will be developed through participation in mentorship training programs and outreach to non-academic audiences.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.