Collaborative Research: ANT LIA Cumacean -Omics to Measure Mode of Adaptation to Antarctica (COMMAA)

cumac纲是一种小型甲壳类动物，通常被称为逗号虾，生活在海水的泥泞或沙质底部环境中。cumacea是鱼类、鸟类甚至灰鲸的重要食物。该研究项目旨在评估南极不同地区的cumacean多样性和适应性，并利用分子方法评估这种生物对不断变化的南极地区的适应性。这项研究将极大地促进对无脊椎动物对寒冷、稳定栖息地的适应以及对这些栖息地变化的反应的理解。此外，该项目正在推进对Cumacea生物学的理解，Cumacea是一种具有全球多样性和生物学重要性的动物群体。在cumacean生物学、分子技术和生物信息学方面，对早期职业学生和专业人员进行有针对性的培训是该计划的一部分。洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆的一个讲习班还将培训另外10名研究生，重点是培训代表性不足的群体。项目扩展还包括社交媒体，扩展到安克雷奇，AK州非常多样化的学区的学校，以及在阿拉巴马州自然历史博物馆举办博物馆活动和展览。最后，该团队参与了与国家海洋科学竞赛相关的活动，促进了高中生对南极科学学习的广泛参与。第二部分：技术描述本研究的总体目标是使用丘科动物作为模型系统来探索无脊椎动物对不断变化的南极的适应。该项目利用综合分类学、功能、比较和进化基因组学以及系统发育比较方法来了解南极Cumacea的真正多样性。该团队正在识别经历扩展、选择或显著差异表达的基因和基因家族，基于转录组和基因组为南极Cumacea生成一个广泛采样和强大的系统发育框架，并探索多样化的速度和时间。该项目提供了与基因获得/损失、正选择和差异基因表达相关的重要信息，作为生物适应南极栖息地的功能。系统基因组学分析为未充分研究的南大洋Cumacea提供了一个强大的系统发育框架。在这个项目开始的时候，只有一个南极生物的转录组被发表出来。该项目获得了8个物种的基因组序列，约70个物种的约250个转录组，约100个物种的约470个COI和16S扩增子条形码。经过整理的形态学参考资料将存放在史密森尼博物馆、洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆和位于格里塔角的新西兰国家水和大气研究中心，以帮助未来的研究人员识别南极的cumac纲。在当前项目的直接范围之外，基因组资源将能够被极地生物学和无脊椎动物群落的成员利用，用于从PCR引物开发到祖先种群规模推断的各种其他用途。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。

Part I: General descriptionCumaceans are small crustaceans, commonly known as comma shrimp, that live in muddy or sandy bottom environments in marine waters. Cumaceans are important for the diet of fish, birds, and even grey whales. This research program is assessing cumacean diversity and adaptation in different regions of Antarctica and evaluate this organisms adaptations using molecular methods to a changing Antarctic region. The research stands to significantly advance understanding of invertebrate adaptations to cold, stable habitats and responses to changes in those habitats. In addition, this project is advancing understanding of the biology of Cumacea, a globally diverse and biologically important group of animals. Targeted training of early career students and professionals in cumacean biology, molecular techniques, and bioinformatics is included as part of the program. A workshop at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum will also train 10 additional graduate students, with a focus on training for underrepresented groups. Project outreach also includes social media, outreach to schools in very diverse school districts in Anchorage, AK, and creation of museum events and an exhibit at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Finally, engagement by the team in activities related to the National Ocean Science Bowl promotes broad engagement with high school students for Antarctic science learning. Part II: Technical DescriptionThe overarching goal of this research is to use cumaceans as a model system to explore invertebrate adaptations to the changing Antarctic. This project is leveraging integrative taxonomy, functional, comparative and evolutionary genomics, and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand the true diversity of Cumacea in the Antarctic. The team is identifying genes and gene families experiencing expansions, selection, or significant differential expression, generating a broadly sampled and robust phylogenetic framework for the Antarctic Cumacea based on transcriptomes and genomes, and exploring rates and timing of diversification. The project is providing important information related to gene gain/loss, positive selection, and differential gene expression as a function of adaptation of organisms to Antarctic habitats. Phylogenomic analyses is providing a robust phylogenetic framework for understudied Southern Ocean Cumacea. At the start of this project, only one Antarctic transcriptome was published for this organism. This project is generating sequenced genomes from 8 species, about 250 transcriptomes from about 70 species, and approximately 470 COI and 16S amplicon barcodes from about 100 species. Curated morphological reference collections will be deposited at the Smithsonian, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum and in the New Zealand National Water and Atmospheric Research collection at Greta Point to assist future researchers in identification of Antarctic cumaceans. Beyond the immediate scope of the current project, the genomic resources will be able to be leveraged by members of the polar biology and invertebrate zoology communities for diverse other uses ranging from PCR primer development to inference of ancestral population sizes.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.