NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Are variants under selection for disease resistance predictive of disease susceptibility across taxa?

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。自20世纪70年代以来，30亿只鸟类从北美消失。传染病是鸟类死亡的重要原因。从1999年开始，西尼罗河病毒在北美迅速蔓延，主要感染鸟类，有时导致它们死亡。在过去的二十年里，家雀已经进化出对西尼罗河病毒的抵抗力，但其机制尚不清楚。该项目将确定家雀对西尼罗河病毒产生抗性的遗传机制。鸟类是许多疾病的重要媒介，这将是第一个描述鸟类如何适应西尼罗河病毒的项目。研究员将利用这些信息来预测其他鸟类是否对西尼罗河病毒敏感。该研究员将在加州大学圣克鲁斯，一个西班牙裔服务机构，招募和培训代表性不足的少数民族学生，从事这一项目。该研究员还将志愿者外展和教不同的本科生和K-12学生，激励他们追求干的职业生涯。该项目将首先从先前感染西尼罗河病毒的家雀中产生RNA-seq。这些数据将用于鉴定表达或剪接与西尼罗病毒载量相关的候选基因。接下来，研究员将通过博物馆标本的DNA-seq识别野生家雀种群中正在选择的遗传变异。具体而言，研究员将对西尼罗河病毒引入前后多个家雀种群的样本进行测序，并确定适应是否与西尼罗河病毒平行。通过将我们的范围限制在先前确定的候选基因上，该项目将确定可能介导西尼罗河抗性的变异。最后，研究员将根据这些变异开发西尼罗河病毒易感性预测因子，并评估其预测鸟类易感性的能力。研究员将接受从博物馆样本中分离DNA的最先进技术的培训，并将对疾病生态学有深刻的理解。该研究员还将通过CALeDNA带领代表性不足的少数民族学生进行实地考察，CALeDNA是一项通过环境DNA监测生态多样性的社区科学倡议。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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. Since the 1970’s, 3 billion birds have disappeared from North America. Infectious disease is an important cause of bird mortality. Beginning in 1999, West Nile Virus rapidly spread across North America, primarily infecting birds and sometimes leading to their death. Over the past two decades, house sparrows have evolved resistance to West Nile Virus, but the mechanism is unknown. This project will identify the genetic mechanisms through which house sparrows have evolved resistance to West Nile Virus. Birds are important vectors for many diseases, and this will be the first project to characterize how birds adapt to West Nile Virus. The Fellow will use this information to predict whether other species of birds are susceptible to West Nile Virus. The Fellow will recruit and train underrepresented minority students at UC Santa Cruz, a Hispanic Serving Institute, to work on this project. The Fellow will also volunteer outreach and teach to diverse undergraduate and K-12 students, inspiring them to pursue STEM careers. This project will first generate RNA-seq from house sparrows previously infected by West Nile virus. These data will be used to identify candidate genes where expression or splicing is associated with West Nile viral load. Next, the Fellow will identify genetic variants that are under selection in wild house sparrow populations through DNA-seq of museum specimens. Specifically, the Fellow will sequence samples from multiple house sparrow populations before and after the introduction of West Nile Virus and determine whether adaptation is parallel in response to West Nile Virus. By limiting our scope to the candidate genes identified previously, this project will identify variants that are likely to mediate West Nile resistance. Finally, the Fellow will develop a West Nile virus susceptibility predictor based on these variants and assess its ability to predict susceptibility across avian taxa. The Fellow will be trained in state-of-the-art techniques to isolate DNA from museum samples and will develop a strong understanding of disease ecology. The Fellow will also lead sampling field trips of underrepresented minority students through CALeDNA, a community science initiative to monitor ecological diversity through environmental DNA.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.