CAREER: The interaction of deficits in cellular regulation and divergent parental environments to postzygotic isolation in hybridizing milkweeds (Asclepias)

本项目将研究细胞调控如何影响两种乳草在不同环境下的繁殖障碍。理解这一点很重要，因为它揭示了物种适应环境的方式以及它们如何相互作用。该项目将使用实地实验、基因组学和代谢组学分析来探索杂交、遗传和环境扰动对基因网络和细胞代谢的影响。这个项目将有助于我们理解细胞机制，遗传不相容，以及物种在不同环境中相互作用的方式。这些知识对于预测气候变化和人类活动如何影响不同物种之间的关系将是有价值的。更广泛的影响包括让南达科他州的K12学生参与研究经验，并为代表性不足的学生提供教育机会。最后，该项目将开发一个本科生物信息学课程，重点是定量推理和编程技能。本项目将通过检测两种乳草（Asclepias syriaca和A. speciosa）杂交的细胞调节功能，研究内在和外在的生殖障碍是如何促成物种隔离的。本研究将重点确定亲本环境下各物种的细胞调控网络和应激反应代谢，并描述杂交细胞表达的多样性及其对适应性的影响。本研究将通过对根和叶组织中胁迫代谢产物的rna测序和定量分析进行。更广泛的影响被整合到研究中，在南达科他州K12学校的普通花园进行实验，以量化受精卵前和受精卵后障碍对生殖隔离的相对贡献。科学和教育目标的进一步整合将包括开发本科生物信息学课程，该课程侧重于定量推理，建模和模拟，以及通过r编程应用科学过程。这项研究将有助于理解基因相互作用和物种隔离期间出现的不相容类型。这将变得越来越重要，因为气候变化和人类干扰改变了物种的范围，并使以前孤立的物种接触到一起。该项目由综合生物系统综合生态生理学项目（IEP）、刺激竞争研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）和环境生物学部的进化过程项目（EP）共同资助。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。

This project will study how cellular regulation affects the reproductive barriers between two milkweed species in different environments. Understanding this is important because it sheds light on the ways in which species adapt to their environments and how they interact with each other. The project will use field experiments, genomics, and metabolomics analyses to explore the effects of hybridization and genetic and environmental perturbation on gene networks and cellular metabolism. This project will contribute to our understanding of cellular mechanisms, genetic incompatibilities, and the ways in which species interact with each other in different environments. This knowledge will be valuable in predicting how climate change and human activities might affect the relationships between different species. The broader impacts include engaging K12 students in South Dakota in research experiences and providing educational opportunities for underrepresented students. Finally, the project will develop an undergraduate Bioinformatics curriculum that focuses on quantitative reasoning and programming skills. This project will investigate how intrinsic and extrinsic reproductive barriers contribute to species isolation by examining the cellular regulatory dysfunction in hybrids of two milkweeds, Asclepias syriaca and A. speciosa. The study will focus on identifying the cellular regulatory networks and stress-response metabolism of each species in parental environments and characterizing the diversity of hybrid cellular expression and its impact on fitness. The research will be conducted through RNA-sequencing and quantification of stress metabolites in root and leaf tissue. The broader impacts are integrated into the research with experiments in common gardens at K12 schools across South Dakota to quantify the relative contributions of pre- and postzygotic barriers to reproductive isolation. Further integration of the scientific and educational aims will include the development of an undergraduate Bioinformatics curriculum that focuses on quantitative reasoning, modeling, and simulation, and applying the process of science via programming in R. This research will contribute to understanding gene interactions and the types of incompatibilities that arise during species isolation, which will become increasingly important as climate change and human disturbances shift species ranges and bring previously isolated species into contact.This project is jointly funded by the Integrative Ecological Physiology program (IEP) in Integrative Organismal Systems, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Evolutionary Processes (EP) program in the Division of Environmental Biology.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.