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

第一部分：一般注意甲壳类动物是小型甲壳类动物，通常被称为逗号虾，生活在海洋沃茨的泥泞或桑迪底部环境中。库马类动物是鱼类、鸟类甚至灰鲸的重要食物。该研究计划正在评估南极洲不同地区的库马动物多样性和适应性，并使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。这项研究将大大促进对无脊椎动物适应寒冷，稳定栖息地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是一种全球多样性和生物学上重要的动物群体。早期职业学生和专业人员在cumacean生物学，分子技术和生物信息学的有针对性的培训包括作为该计划的一部分。洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆的一个讲习班也将培训另外10名研究生，重点是培训代表性不足的群体。项目外展还包括社交媒体，在安克雷奇，AK非常多样化的学区的学校外展，并在亚拉巴马自然历史博物馆创建博物馆活动和展览。最后，该小组参与与国家海洋科学碗有关的活动，促进了高中学生广泛参与南极科学学习。第二部分：本研究的总体目标是使用库马类动物作为模型系统，探索无脊椎动物对不断变化的南极洲的适应。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张，选择或显着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。该项目正在提供有关基因获得/丧失、积极选择和作为生物体适应南极生境的一种功能的不同基因表达的重要信息。系统基因组学分析提供了一个强大的系统发育框架研究不足的南大洋Cumacea。在这个项目开始时，只有一个南极转录组被公布的这种生物。该项目正在生成来自8个物种的测序基因组，来自约70个物种的约250个转录组，以及来自约100个物种的约470个COI和16 S扩增子条形码。精选的形态学参考收藏品将存放在洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆的史密森尼博物馆和Greta Point的新西兰国家水和大气研究收藏馆，以协助未来的研究人员识别南极库马类动物。除了当前项目的直接范围外，极地生物学和无脊椎动物学社区的成员将能够利用基因组资源进行其他多种用途，从PCR引物开发到推断祖先种群大小。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。

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.