EDGE FGT: MUSH-IT: MUlti-Species Hemimetabolous Insect Tools

地球上的大多数动物都是昆虫，研究它们对理解地球上生命的进化至关重要。它们是唯一在空气、陆地和水中定居的动物。弄清楚昆虫身体如何在如此多样化的环境中发挥作用，导致了新的机器人设计的创造，产生了可以在崎岖地形上飞行、游泳或爬行的机器人。昆虫对人类健康也至关重要，因为它们是主要的植物传粉者，因此对提供人类食物的农业活动至关重要。对于所有的动物来说，昆虫的体型和行为在很大程度上是由它们的基因决定的，这使得昆虫遗传学的研究成为当务之急。尽管它们的重要性显而易见，但我们在实验室里研究昆虫真正多样性的能力受到了严重的限制，因为没有开发出任何方法来了解绝大多数昆虫的基因功能。在这个建议中，我们将开发新的方法来了解昆虫的基因序列和功能，从五个不同的主要昆虫类群。我们将建立新的基因组序列，改进和简化实验室可控环境下的昆虫饲养方法，改进现有方法或开发新的干扰基因功能的方法，以了解基因如何调节昆虫生物学。我们将以视频协议、互动Slack组、面对面和直播研讨会的形式与全球昆虫科学家社区分享我们的发现和新方法。昆虫自5亿多年前首次出现在地球上以来，一直主导着动物的多样性。对昆虫的研究在所有科学领域都带来了突破性的发现。尽管如此，在这些昆虫的19个主要类群（目）中，只有两个包含模型实验室物种，这些物种具有强大的功能遗传学技术，可以在最初开发它们的实验室之外使用。这一差距将通过为五个半代谢昆虫目的物种生成新的多物种半代谢昆虫工具（MUSH-IT）来解决。首先，将蟋蟀Gryllus bimaculatus发展成为一种高度复杂的半代谢昆虫，用于功能基因组学。其次，来自另外四个半代谢目的物种将被开发成功能遗传学的实验室模式生物，为研究人员提供跨越昆虫基础的更广泛的系统发育研究系统。每年将举行研讨会，以帮助研究半代谢虫的研究人员学习、排除故障、适应和开发新的方法来控制昆虫这一关键分支的基因功能。该项目将加强利用昆虫作为研究系统的许多科学领域的现有研究和教育基础设施。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。

Most animals on earth are insects, and studying them is essential to understand the evolution of life on Earth. They are the only animals that colonize habits in air, land and water. Figuring out how insect bodies can function in such diverse environments has led to the creation of new robotic designs, generating robots that can fly, swim, or crawl over rough terrain. Insects are also essential to human health because they are major plant pollinators, and thus crucial for the agricultural activity that provides human food. As for all animals, the body shapes and behaviors of insects are largely governed by their genes, making the study of insect genetics a high priority. Despite their obvious importance, our ability to study the true diversity of insects in the laboratory has been severely limited by the fact that no methods have been developed to understand the function of genes in the vast majority of insects. In this proposal, we will develop new methods for learning about the sequences and functions of genes in insects from five different major insect groups. We will generate new genome sequences, improve and streamline methods for rearing these insects in controlled laboratory environments, and improve on existing methods or develop new ones to interfere with gene functions to understand how genes regulate insect biology. We will share our findings and new methods with the global community of insect scientists in the form of video protocols, an interactive Slack group, and in-person and livestreamed workshops.Insects have dominated animal diversity since their first appearance on Earth over 500 million years ago. Studying insects has led to ground-breaking discoveries across all fields of science. Despite this, only two of the 19 major groups (orders) of these insects contain model laboratory species with robust functional genetics techniques that are used outside of the laboratories that initially developed them. This gap will be addressed by generating novel MUlti-Species Hemimetabolous Insect Tools (MUSH-IT) for species from five hemimetabolous insect orders. First, the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus will be developed into a highly sophisticated hemimetabolous insect for functional genomics. Second, species from four additional hemimetabolous orders will be developed into laboratory model organisms for functional genetics, providing researchers with a broader phylogenetic range of study systems across the base of insects. Annual workshops will be held to help researchers working with Hemimetabola learn, troubleshoot, adapt and develop new methods for control of gene function in this critical branch of insects. This project will enhance existing infrastructure for research and education across the many fields of science that use insects as study 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.