IntBIO: Disentangling the genetic, biomechanical, and deep-time factors underlying mammalian skeletal diversity

了解参与生命进化的遗传和环境因素的相对贡献（通常被框定为“先天与后天”）对于确定生物多样性如何在不同的空间和时间尺度上保持至关重要。这个项目研究了先天与后天在塑造骨骼及其特征方面的作用，比如运动和饮食方面的进化创新。这个多方面的项目结合了来自广泛教育背景的学生研究团队，旨在为有经济需要的学生、社区大学学生和来自弱势群体的学生提供机会。一个由教师、教育项目主任、博士后、博士和本科生研究人员组成的指导-研究合作网络将为所有参与者提供培训。研究成果将通过教育工作者的短期课程和可访问的在线教育材料广泛分享。21世纪生物学面临的最大挑战和机遇之一是将分散的科学学科的知识整合到一个普遍的框架中。这个项目集中于基因遗传、生物力学和深度进化模式的交叉，以解开每个因素的相对贡献，使食肉动物（狗、猫、熊及其亲戚）成为后恐龙时代地球上最广泛和最多样化的哺乳动物捕食者。为了深入了解骨骼多样性和变异的遗传基础，该团队将使用小鼠模型构建表型变异和协变的遗传力图。然后，这个模型将应用于食肉动物物种，以检验解释这一群体骨骼变异的假设。然后将分析过去5500万年的深时间模式，并结合长期的环境变化模式，如热极大期和冰期。预期的结果是一个综合框架来解释一群多样化和适应性强的动物骨骼变异性的产生和进化。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。

Understanding the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors involved in the evolution of life (commonly framed as “nature versus nurture”) is paramount to determining how biodiversity is maintained at different scales in space and time. This project examines the role of nature versus nurture in shaping skeletons and their characteristics, such as evolutionary innovations in locomotion and eating. This multi-faceted project incorporates student research teams assembled from a broad spectrum of educational backgrounds and aims to provide opportunities for students with financial need, those from community colleges, and those from underrepresented backgrounds. A mentoring-research cooperative network composed of faculty, educational program directors, and postdoctoral, doctoral, and undergraduate researchers will provide training at all participant levels. Research findings will be shared broadly through an educator short course and accessible online educational materials.Among the greatest challenges and opportunities for biology in the 21st century is the integration of knowledge from dispersed scientific disciplines into a generalized framework. This project focuses on the intersection of genetic heritability, biomechanics, and deep-time evolutionary patterns to disentangle the relative contributions of each factor in allowing carnivorans (dogs, cats, bears, and relatives) to become the most widespread and diverse mammalian predators in post-dinosaur Earth. To gain insights into the genetic underpinnings of skeletal diversity and variation, the team will use a mouse model to construct a heritability map of phenotypic variation and covariation. This model then will be applied to carnivoran species to test hypotheses that explain skeletal variation in this group. Deep-time patterns over the past 55 million years will then be analyzed in conjunction with long-term patterns of environmental changes such as thermal maxima and ice ages. The expected outcome is an integrated framework to explain the generation and evolution of skeletal variability in a group of diverse and adaptable animals.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.