Postdoctoral Fellowship: OPP-PRF: Epigenetic Potential as a Driver of Local Adaptation in Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis Papua) along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

Gentoo企鹅生活在地球上变暖最快的地区之一--南极半岛西部，那里的环境变化是以几年而不是几十年来衡量的。尽管如此，该物种仍在蓬勃发展，数量不断增加，并在新的栖息地定居，而姊妹物种，如阿德利企鹅(P.adeliae)，在该地区正在衰落。这个项目将调查表观遗传学在多大程度上有助于Genoo企鹅的成功。表观遗传变异是通过影响基因表达的DNA或染色质结构的改变来控制的，而不是改变潜在的DNA序列。该项目将提高对Genoo企鹅适应气候变化的理解，以及这是否是表观遗传变化(即表观遗传潜力)的更大能力推动下行为和生理灵活性增加的结果。表观遗传变异研究最多的形式是DNA甲基化模式的图谱。环境效应可以触发针对特定组织的DNA甲基化的变化，允许局部的基因表达变化，导致对生物体表型的修改，而不会对潜在的基因进行任何改变。鉴于种群之间的表观遗传变异往往超过遗传变异，在Genoo企鹅群体中观察到的细微遗传差异表明，通过更不同的表观遗传变化进行局部适应的可能性，并提供了一个框架，用于沿多个生态轴检查Genoo企鹅繁育范围内的表观遗传变异。研究人员将利用尖端的高分辨率基因组学技术，通过野生Genoo企鹅和Adélie企鹅的DNA甲基化模式，全面描述表观基因组图谱，以检验这一点。具体地说，他们将调查Genoo企鹅在DNA甲基化方面的差异是否比潜在的遗传差异更大，这表明这种表观遗传差异是由外部环境变量驱动的，有可能导致当地适应能力的提高。这个项目将探索是否可以通过比较较老的已建立的殖民地与范围边缘的新殖民地来选择表观遗传潜力在分散到新殖民地位置的个体中。通过在Genoo企鹅野生种群中实施尖端表观遗传学方法，该项目将有助于解决环境可塑性方面的生态问题，这些问题将影响南极半岛上的海洋保护区(MPA)的保护努力和决策。该奖项反映了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。

Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) inhabit one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), where environmental shifts are measured in years, not decades. Despite this, the species is flourishing, growing in numbers and colonizing new habitats while sister species, such as Adélie penguins (P. adeliae), are declining in the region. This project will investigate to what extent epigenetics contributes to the success of gentoo penguins. Epigenetic variation is controlled by modifications to DNA or chromatin structure that affect the expression of genes, rather than changes to the underlying DNA sequence. This project will improve the understanding of gentoo penguin adaptation to climate change, and whether it is a result of increased flexibility in behavior and physiology driven by a greater capacity for epigenetic changes (i.e., epigenetic potential). The most studied form of epigenetic variation is the profiling of DNA methylation patterns. Environmental effects can trigger changes in DNA methylation that target specific tissues, allowing for localized gene expression shifts that result in modifications to the phenotype of an organism without any alteration to the underlying genotype. Given that epigenetic variation between populations often exceeds genetic variation, fine-scale genetic differentiation observed amongst gentoo penguin colonies suggests the possibility for local adaptation via even more divergent epigenetic changes and provides a framework for examining epigenetic variation across the gentoo penguin breeding range along multiple ecological axes. The researchers will test this by comprehensively characterizing the epigenomic profiles via patterns of DNA methylation in wild gentoo and Adélie penguins using cutting-edge high-resolution genomics techniques. Specifically, they will investigate whether gentoo penguins exhibit a greater degree of differences in DNA-methylation than underlying genetic differences, suggesting such epigenetic variation is driven by external environmental variables, potentially leading to improved capacity for local adaptation. This project will explore whether epigenetic potential may be selected for in individuals who disperse to new colony locations by comparing older, established colonies to new colonies at the range-edge. By implementing cutting-edge epigenetic methods in wild populations of gentoo penguins, this project will help address ecological questions on environmental plasticity that will impact conservation efforts and decisions on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the Antarctic Peninsula.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.