NSF PRFB FY 2023: The Evolution of Multiple Stressor Tolerance: From Genes to Whole Organism Performance

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。多种环境压力源的研究具有挑战性，因为压力源之间的潜在相互作用是复杂的。这一建议将提供对多种压力源的耐受性是如何由生态和进化过程形成的见解。此外，随着生物面临越来越多的人为压力，了解生物如何应对多种应激源与基本生态生理学和保护问题相关。在多重压力环境中生存的生物体提供了一个很好的自然系统来解决这些问题。该项目将利用对硫化氢（H2S）和缺氧（低溶解氧）具有特殊耐受性的Poecilia Mexicana鱼类，从个体的塑性反应和种群的进化反应两方面研究多种应激源如何影响基因表达、生理性状和有机体性能。为了确定缺氧和H2S耐受性是如何与遗传和环境影响相关并形成的，该项目包括三个目标。1)将在适应和非适应种群中量化基因表达和对个体和多重环境压力的生理反应。2)研究员将测试对一种环境应激源（如缺氧）的现有可塑性是否可以增加对另一种应激源（如H2S）的耐受性。3)本研究员将比较杂交种对多种应激源的共耐受性，以检验当共适应基因复合物在杂交后代中重组时，性状之间的表型相关性是否维持。除了研究目标外，该计划还包括四个主要的培训目标，包括技术知识，工作申请材料的开发，教学/指导和公共宣传，以帮助研究员在完成该博士后研究后获得教师职位。此外，该研究员将参与主办机构的几个社区外展项目，以一种非正式的方式建立当地社区对科学的热情，并使科学家更容易接触到公众关注的问题。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 action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, 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. The study of multiple environmental stressors is challenging because potential interactions between stressors are complex. This proposal will provide insights into how tolerance to multiple stressors is shaped by ecological and evolutionary processes. Additionally, understanding how organisms respond to multiple stressors bears relevance to questions in basic ecological physiology and conservation, as organisms are faced with increasing anthropogenic pressures.Organisms that survive in environments with multiple stressors provide an excellent natural system to address these issues. This project will utilize the fish species Poecilia Mexicana, which exhibits exceptional tolerance to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen), to address how multiple stressors affect gene expression, physiological traits, and organismal performance, both in terms of plastic responses of individuals and evolutionary responses of populations. To determine how hypoxia and H2S tolerances are correlated and shaped by genetic and environmental effects, this project includes three aims. 1) The fellow will quantify gene expression and physiological responses to individual and multiple environmental stressors in both adapted and non-adapted populations. 2) The fellow will test whether existing plasticity in response to one environmental stressor (i.e., hypoxia) can increase tolerance to another stressor (i.e., H2S). 3) The fellow will compare co-tolerance to multiple stressors in hybrids to test whether phenotypic correlations between traits are maintained when co-adapted gene complexes are reshuffled in hybrid offspring. In addition to research objectives, this proposal includes four overarching training objectives that include technical knowledge, development of job application materials, teaching/mentoring, and public outreach to help the fellow achieve their goal of obtaining a faculty position after the completion of this postdoctoral fellowship. Additionally, the fellow will engage in several community outreach programs at the host institution to build the local community's enthusiasm for science in an informal way and to make scientists more accessible to address questions of public concern.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.