Ecological Genomics of Anopheles gambiae

描述（由申请人提供）：冈比亚按蚊（Anopheles gambiae s.s.）正在经历一个物种形成过程，这一过程导致疟疾在空间和时间上的传播增加。与物种形成过程相关的生态适应使得冈比亚拟南蝽能够利用以前被排除在外的环境：干旱季节和受农业灌溉影响的地区。据推测，适应干旱的早期物种（冈比亚变种M）将幼虫栖息地从冈比亚变种S特有的雨依赖性水池和水坑转移到与灌溉相关的人为繁殖地。然而，在不同的空间尺度和发育阶段，M和S两种形态用来划分其环境的相关生态特征尚未建立。我们的目标是在表型和基因型水平上研究生态适应，因为我们相信这种现象是冈比亚疟虫成为疟疾最有效载体的核心，而且了解它的工作原理将揭示新的控制目标。我们将补充疟蚊的M和S生态领域的研究在不同的空间尺度上人口基因检查的适应基于完成的疟蚊的基因组序列和高通量筛选技术。为了最终确定复杂生态表型背后的基因，我们将采用“自上而下”的方法，仔细定义M和S之间的关键生态差异，以及“自下而上”的方法，包括对可能与M和S生态差异相关的候选区域进行多位点基因组扫描。在此框架内，我们提出以下具体目标：(1)验证M和S对其栖息地进行划分的假设，并在不同空间尺度上对每种形式的实现生态位进行表征；(2)明确M和S染色体多态性与环境异质性的时空关系；(3)确定可能与M和S的差异适应相关的基因组区域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Anopheles gambiae s.s. is subject to an ongoing speciation process which has resulted in increased malaria transmission spatially and temporally. Ecological adaptation associated with the speciation process has allowed exploitation of environments that formerly excluded A. gambiae: arid seasons and zones subject to irrigation for agriculture. It has been assumed that the arid-adapted incipient species (A. gambiae form M) shifted larval habitats from rain-dependent pools and puddles characteristic of A. gambiae form S to anthropogenic breeding sites associated with irrigation. However, the relevant ecological features used by the M and S forms to partition their environment at different spatial scales and developmental stages have not been established. We aim to study ecological adaptation at phenotypic and genotypic levels because we believe that this phenomenon is central to what makes A. gambiae the most efficient vector of malaria, and that an understanding of how it works will expose novel targets for control. We will complement ecological field studies of A. gambiae M and S at different spatial scales with a population genomic examination of adaptation based on the completed A. gambiae genome sequence and high throughput screening techniques. Toward the ultimate goal of identifying genes underlying complex ecophenotypes, we will apply a "topdown" approach in which key ecological differences between M and S will be carefully defined, and a "bottom-up" approach involving multilocus genome scans for candidate regions likely to be associated with ecological divergence of M and S. Within this framework, we propose the following specific aims: (1) Validate the hypothesis that M and S partition their habitat, and characterize the realized niche of each form at different spatial scales; (2) Define the spatial and temporal patterns of chromosomal polymorphism within M and S in relation to environmental heterogeneities; and (3) Identify genomic regions potentially associated with differential adaptations of M and S.