Contrasting environmental and genetic controls of alternative phenotypes

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究解决了生物学中的一个基本问题：环境和基因型如何相互作用以产生表型？豌豆蚜虫，一个新兴的基因组模型系统，表现出显着不同的成年表型的有翅或无翅的变体，诱导的环境条件下，在无性繁殖的女性（多型）和男性（多态性）的一个单一的身份不明的遗传位点。此外，遗传变异的女性翼多型分离与男性翼多态性表明，潜在的多型和多态性的发展网络是不独立的。我建议（1）定位和鉴定雄性多态性基因，以确定雄性多态性的发育遗传基础，（2）描述无性雌性对翅诱导刺激的转录和代谢组学反应，以确定雌性多型性的发育遗传基础;（3）使用系统生物学方法将（1）和（2）的结果联系起来。提供一个有凝聚力的图片环境信号和遗传信号如何相互作用，以产生基本相似的成人替代形态。该奖项为期一年的指导阶段的重点是开发一个在系统和网络生物学方面表现出色的培训环境中所涉及的生物系统的整体视图：南加州大学分子和计算生物学部分的Sergey Nuzhdin博士实验室。辅导期结束后，我将过渡到一家学术研究机构的终身职位。相关性：所有的表型，从我们的身高和体重到我们的疾病易感性，都是我们的基因和环境之间复杂相互作用的结果。该项目旨在阐明在表型产生中整合环境和遗传信号的基本规则。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research addresses a fundamental question in biology: how do the environment and genotype interact to produce the phenotype? The pea aphid, an emerging genomic model system, exhibits dramatically different adult phenotypes of winged or unwinged morphs that are induced by environmental conditions in asexual females (a polyphenism) and by a single unidentified genetic locus in males (a polymorphism). Further, genetic variation for the female wing polyphenism segregates with the male wing polymorphism suggesting that the developmental networks underlying the polyphenism and polymorphism are not independent. I propose to (1) map and identify the male polymorphism gene to determine the developmental genetic basis of the male polymorphism, (2) characterize the transcriptional and metabolomic response to wing-inducing stimuli in the asexual females to determine the developmental genetic basis of the female polyphenism and (3) use a systems biology approach to link the results from (1) and (2) to provide a cohesive picture of how environmental signals and genetic signals interact to produce fundamentally similar adult alternative morphologies. The year-long mentored stage of this award focuses on developing a holistic view of the biological systems involved in a training environment that excels in systems and network biology: the laboratory of Dr. Sergey Nuzhdin in the Molecular and Computational Biology section at the University of Southern California. Following the mentored period, I will transition to a tenure-track position at an academic research institution. Relevance: All phenotypes, from our height and weight to our disease susceptibility, result from a complex interplay between our genes and our environment. This project aims to illuminate basic rules acting to integrate environmental and genetic signals in the production of the phenotype.