Evolutionary genetics of genotype-by-environment interactions for complex traits

项目摘要 我研究中的一个关键问题是：为什么数量性状的多样性持续存在，尽管 有证据表明选择会消除这种多样性吗环境变化可以产生 在种群之间和种群内部进行遗传权衡，有助于维持这种遗传多样性。我 研究自然界中这些权衡的遗传机制和结构。我最近的研究 主要集中在两个中心目标：1）开发方法，寻找当地的遗传基础， （2）关于局部适应和G×E的假设的实证检验。我提议 利用模型系统研究适应环境的遗传机制， 便于生态实验，拟南芥。这项工作将测试 关于适应不断变化的环境的遗传结构的假设， 空间和时间，关于基因流动如何影响遗传结构，以及基因在遗传结构中的作用， 表达可塑性在适应变化的环境。在所有项目中，我们的能力， 生态现实，但控制共同花园实验将提供信息， 环境响应中的遗传变异（G×E），可用于解释观测结果 来自大自然的数据。我们将首先研究适应时间的遗传机制， 不断变化的环境我们将研究不同的种群如何适应数百种 通过对博物馆标本的基因组进行测序来研究几代人的环境变化。第二、 我们将研究当地适应沿着山地环境梯度与不同水平的 隔离来测试基因流如何影响局部适应的结构。该项目将 从不同的地理环境中收集人口，并进行实验， 局部适应和表达可塑性的遗传基础。我提议的工作将使 在测试沿着复杂环境梯度的权衡如何影响 整个基因组的遗传多样性。

PROJECT SUMMARY A key question in my research is: why does diversity in quantitative traits persist, despite evidence of selection that should eliminate this diversity? Environmental variation can generate genetic tradeoffs both among and within populations, helping to maintain this genetic diversity. I study the genetic mechanisms and architecture of these tradeoffs in nature. My recent research has focused on two central goals: 1) developing approaches for finding the genetic basis of local adaptation and 2) empirical testing of hypotheses about local adaptation and G×E. I propose research to study genetic mechanisms of adaptation to environment using a model system that is convenient for ecological experimentation, Arabidopsis thaliana. This work will test hypotheses about the genetic architecture of adaptation to changing environments through space and time, about how gene flow influences genetic architecture, and about the role of gene expression plasticity in adaptation to variable environments. In all projects, our ability to conduct ecologically realistic but controlled common garden experiments will provide information on genetic variation in environmental responses (G×E) that can be used to interpret observational data from nature. We will first study the genetic mechanisms of adaptation to temporally changing environments. We will study how different populations of have adapted to hundreds of generations of environmental change by sequencing genomes of museum specimens. Second, we will study local adaptation along montane environmental gradients with different levels of isolation to test how gene flow influences the architecture of local adaptation. This project will collect populations from different geographic contexts and conduct experiments to characterize the genetic basis of local adaptation and expression plasticity. My proposed work will make important strides in testing how tradeoffs along complex environmental gradients influence genetic diversity across the genome.