NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Genomic and Behavioral Insights into the Role of Mate Choice in the Origins and Maintenance of Biodiversity

这一行动为NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。在学习新的研究技能的同时，该研究员将使用一种海洋蠕虫来探索生物多样性的一个主要来源。不同的动物种群有时会开始进化出不同的后代。这些种群差异可以为新生物多样性的进化奠定基础。它们甚至可以导致新物种的起源。这种情况是否会发生，取决于种群分化的成员是否仍能交配并繁衍后代。这种交配的一个常见障碍是女性对具有相同发育特征的男性的偏好。这种偏好可以减少不同种群之间的偶发配对，并允许它们进一步分化。因此，它们可能是生物多样性的主要来源。然而，这些偏好是如何产生的，在很大程度上是未知的。利用基因组学、分子技术和行为分析，这项研究旨在揭示这种配偶偏好的基因组构成。此外，该研究员将开发K-12课程，执行公共宣传，并使用研究数据指导学生。该研究员将使用模型海洋蠕虫系统Streblospio benedicti来调查雌性伴侣选择在不同发育类型种群分化中的作用。在一些种群中，本氏血吸虫雌虫产生许多小的、必须取食的幼虫。在其他种群中，它们产生的后代要少得多，但要大得多，这些后代可以通过母体供养发育到成年。在自然界中几乎找不到中间发育类型。然而，它们很容易在实验室里通过繁殖不同类型的成虫来生产。这表明，选择在自然界中对这些中间体起着不利的作用。初步证据表明，雌性本氏血吸虫优先与与它们有相同幼虫形态的成年雄性交配。因此，可能是行为上的、合子前的交配障碍导致了种群在发育类型上的分化。这位研究员将使用杂交和具有不同交配偏好的雌性的全基因组测序来探索这种可能性。这项研究将确定这一系统中配偶偏好的遗传基础及其与发育类型和人口差异的关系。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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. While learning new research skills, the fellow will use a marine worm to explore a major source of biodiversity. Different populations of animals sometimes begin to evolve differences in how their offspring develop. These population differences can set the stage for the evolution of new biodiversity. They can even lead to the origins of new species. Whether this happens depends on whether members of the diverging populations can still mate and produce offspring. A common barrier to such matings consists of female mate preferences for males with the same developmental traits. Such preferences can reduce chance matings between divergent populations and allow them to diverge further. Thus, they can be major sources of biodiversity. Yet, how these preferences arise is largely unknown. Using genomics, molecular techniques, and behavioral assays, this research aims to uncover the genomic makeup of such mate preferences. In addition, the fellow will develop K-12 lessons, perform public outreach, and mentor students using research data.The fellow will use the model marine worm system Streblospio benedicti to investigate the role of female mate choice in the divergence of populations that differ in developmental type. In some populations, S. benedicti females produce many small, obligately feeding larvae. In other populations, they produce many fewer, much larger offspring that can develop to adulthood via maternal provisioning. Intermediate developmental types are nearly never found in nature. Yet, they are readily produced in the lab by breeding adults of opposite types. This suggests selection acts against such intermediates in nature. Preliminary evidence suggests female S. benedicti preferentially mate with adult males who had the same larval form as them. Thus, it is possible that a behavioral, prezygotic mating barrier is contributing to population divergence in developmental type. The fellow will use crosses and whole-genome sequencing of females with different mating preferences to pursue this possibility. This research will identify the genetic basis for mate preferences in this system and its association with developmental type and population divergence.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.