NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Characterizing Ecological and Genetic Mechanisms of Hybrid Vigor in Boechera

这项行动为2023财年的NSF植物基因组博士后生物学研究奖学金提供资金。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。向加布里埃尔桑德斯特提供的这项奖学金的研究和培训计划的标题是“调查自然界中杂种优势的遗传和生态基础”。奖学金的主办机构是犹他州州立大学，赞助科学家是凯瑟琳·拉什沃思博士和艾米丽约瑟夫斯博士。植物育种的一个关键问题是确保受气候变化影响的世界的粮食安全。解决这个问题的一种方法是培育遗传上不同的植物，创造出在生存和繁殖方面优于亲本的杂交种，这种现象称为杂交优势。虽然杂种优势导致了许多杂交作物的形成，但人们并不了解杂交作物如何应对不断变化的环境。这项工作利用Boechera，一种野花系统，以加深对自然界中杂种优势的遗传学和生态学的理解。这些知识可以用来保障粮食供应。此外，这项研究将允许促进公平的机会，为学生在学术界通过参与支持来自不同背景的本科生，如犹他州州立大学的美洲原住民暑期导师计划的计划。这项研究还提供了宝贵的机会，引发公众讨论研究在开发满足不断增长的人口需求的作物方面的作用。该研究员将协调这些讨论，并在长期的科学讲座系列科学展开，由犹他州州立大学主办的科学推广计划提供学习活动。这项研究的目的是确定生态变量和遗传机制，促进杂交活力的性质。为了查明关键环境变量对杂种优势的影响，将两种Boechera物种的亲本系和杂种组合与野生收集的杂种沿着种植在操纵性田间实验中并测量适合度。下一个目标是利用自然杂交和从头杂交的基因组和转录组测序数据，以确定参与杂种优势的遗传机制。这包括表征Boechera物种内的遗传负荷的分布，检查杂合性是否掩盖这些等位基因在杂交预测跨环境的健身，并确定如何差异基因表达的基础上的混合活力表型不同的环境。该研究将产生广泛的数据，包括种子收集，植物组织样本，适合度和性状测量（将提交给https://datadryad.org），以及几种类型的基因组序列数据（将在https：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra上提供）。总之，这些数据将揭示有助于杂种优势的生态和遗传因素，同时提供大量的生态和遗传资源。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 action funds an NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Gabrielle Sandstedt is "Investigating the genetic and ecological basis of hybrid vigor in nature". The host institution for the fellowship is Utah State University and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Catherine Rushworth and Emily Josephs. A critical concern for plant breeding is ensuring food security in a world impacted by climate change. One approach to this problem is breeding genetically divergent plants to create hybrids that outperform their parents in survival and reproduction, a phenomenon called hybrid vigor. While hybrid vigor has led to the formation of many hybrid crops, it is not understood how hybrids will respond to changing environments. This work utilizes Boechera, a wildflower system to deepen an understanding of the genetics and ecology of hybrid vigor in nature. Such knowledge can be implemented to secure the food supply. Additionally, this research will allow to promote equitable opportunities for students in academia by participating in programs that support undergraduates from diverse backgrounds, such as Utah State University's Native American Summer Mentorship Program. The research also presents valuable opportunities initiating public discussions on the role of research in developing crops that meet the needs of a growing population. The Fellow will coordinate these discussions and provide learning activities at the longstanding scientific lecture series Science Unwrapped, a science outreach program hosted by Utah State University.The purpose of this research is to identify ecological variables and genetic mechanisms that facilitate hybrid vigor in nature. To pinpoint the effects of key environmental variables on hybrid vigor, parental lines and hybrid combinations of two Boechera species, along with wild-collected hybrids, will be planted in a manipulative field experiment and measured for fitness. The next objective uses genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data of natural hybrids and de novo crosses to determine the genetic mechanisms involved in hybrid vigor. This includes characterizing the distribution of genetic load within Boechera species, examining whether heterozygosity masking these alleles in hybrids predicts fitness across environments, and determining how differential gene expression underlying hybrid vigor phenotypes varies across environments. The research will generate extensive data, including seed collections, plant tissue samples, fitness and trait measurements (which will be submitted to https://datadryad.org), and several types of genomic sequence data (which will be made available on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra). Together, these data will reveal ecological and genetic factors that contribute to hybrid vigor while providing substantial ecological and genetic resources.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.