RUI: The Ancestral Modulation Hypothesis: Predicting Hormonal Regulation Of Sex-Biased Traits

该奖项资助对偏向男性表达或女性表达的身体和行为特征的进化和生物学基础的研究。了解产生这些特征的多层次过程将有助于解释在个体和物种中观察到的特征的多样性。该项目将研究遗传水平，分子水平和生理水平，有助于性别偏见的性状。通过了解每个层次，工作将解决一个一般框架，了解这些过程如何演变。在普通的话语中，为了说明一般的生物学概念，对主要与女性或主要与男性相关的大量多样性特征的描述往往是妥协的。该奖项的一部分将制作教育推广材料，以强调个体和物种之间自然性状变异的全方位。多个教育层次将通过扩展到K-12，本科生入门课程和硕士课程。研究人员将解决偏向男性表达或女性表达的身体和行为特征的生物控制。这项工作将发生在生物组织的五个不同水平：全球激素水平，在细胞水平上转换激素的代谢酶水平，在细胞水平上的激素受体水平，受体的基因组结合位点的分布，以及转录反应。将使用两个属的鱼类，包括从雄性到雌性或反之亦然的表型进化转变。利用性状的进化历史进行预测，研究将测试生物控制机制是否基于表型的祖先条件使用不同的途径。预测是，新的性状将使用现有的交配型偏向的途径，而进化过渡的性状将修改通常存在于相反的交配型的途径。通过桥接近端和最终的机制，测试模型提供了一个框架，探索额外的机制，偏见和进一步细致入微的表型，以更好地了解各种交配型偏向性状在自然界中。该奖项由综合有机系统部的生理机制和生物力学项目共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This award funds research on the evolutionary and biological basis of physical and behavioral traits that are biased toward male expression or female expression. Understanding the multi-level processes that produce such traits will help explain the diversity of traits that are observed across individuals and species. This project will investigate genetic levels, molecular levels, and physiological levels that contribute to sex-biased traits. By understanding each level, the work will address a general framework for understanding how these processes evolve. In common discourse, description of the vast diversity of traits associated primarily with females or primarily with males is often compromised in the effort to illustrate general biological concepts. Part of this award will produce educational outreach materials to emphasize the full spectrum of natural trait variation across individuals and species. Multiple educational levels will be targeted through outreach to K-12, undergraduate introductory courses, and a Master’s level course.The researchers will address the biological control of physical and behavioral traits that are biased toward male expression or female expression. The work will occur at five different levels of biological organization: global hormone levels, metabolic enzyme levels for converting hormones at the cellular level, hormone receptor levels at the cellular level, the distribution of genomic binding sites for receptors, and the transcriptional response. Two genera of fishes will be used that include evolutionary transitions of phenotype from males to females or vice-versa. Using the evolutionary history of the traits for predictive power, the research will test whether the biological control mechanisms use different pathways based on the ancestral condition of the phenotype. The prediction is that novel traits will use existing mating-type biased pathways while evolutionarily transitioned traits will modify pathways that are typically present in the opposite mating-type. By bridging proximate and ultimate mechanisms, the tested model provides a framework for exploring additional mechanisms for bias and further nuanced phenotypes to better understand the assorted mating-type biased traits in the natural world. This award was co-funded by the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems.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.