Experimental genomics of adaptation to changing environments

环境的快速变化已被证明会导致物种灭绝速度的提高，从而对加拿大的生物多样性构成重大威胁。通过使用操纵性田间实验将与健康相关的特征与相关生态情景中的潜在遗传结构联系起来，我的研究计划具有评估自然种群适应不断变化的环境的进化能力的独特能力。我的长期目标是解决关于适应遗传学的几个基本问题，这些问题将有助于我们生成进化变化的预测模型；这些问题包括但不限于：1)自然选择对表型的影响有多大，这种选择是如何向下渗透到遗传水平的？2)选择影响的遗传区域如何分布在整个基因组中？3)自然选择的原因是什么？4)种群对环境变化的反应背后的机制是什么？有一些理论可以解决其中的几个问题，但我们在本质上很少有实证检验。使用两个关键的研究系统(刺鱼和鹿鼠)，我正在积极建立一个研究计划，将基于田间的选择实验与尖端分子技术相结合，专注于两个关键领域：适应不断变化的环境和实验基因组学。拟议的拨款将使我能够培训学生学习最新的实验基因组学技术，并使麦吉尔能够在这一充满活力的新学科中进行国际竞争。这项研究计划能够预测生物系统将如何应对环境变化，其优势在于其跨学科性质，整合了生态学、进化论和基因组学的方法和知识。解决与气候变化相关的问题，如物种灭绝、入侵物种和社会的环境健康，直接依赖于这些生物学学科之间的交叉。

Rapid environmental change has been shown to result in elevated extinction rates and thus poses a significant threat to Canadian biodiversity. By using manipulative field experiments to connect fitness-related traits with underlying genetic architecture in relevant ecological scenarios, my research program has a unique ability to assess the evolutionary capabilities of natural populations to adapt to changing environments. My long-term goal is to address several basic questions about the genetics of adaptation that would aid our ability to generate predictive models of evolutionary change; these include but are not limited to: 1) How strong is natural selection on phenotypes, and how does this selection "filter down" to the genetic level? 2) How are the genetic regions affected by selection distributed throughout the genome? 3) What are the causal agents of natural selection? 4) What are the mechanisms underlying population responses to environmental change? There is theory addressing several of these questions, but we have few empirical tests in nature. Using two key study systems (stickleback fish and deer mice), I am actively building a research program that combines field-based selection experiments with cutting-edge molecular techniques to focus on two key areas: adaptation to changing environments and experimental genomics. The proposed grant will enable me to train students in the latest experimental genomics techniques, and allow McGill to compete internationally in this vibrant new discipline. The strength of this research program for enabling predictions about how biological systems will respond to environmental change lies in its interdisciplinary nature, integrating methods and knowledge from ecology, evolution and genomics. Solving climate change related problems such as species extinctions, invasive species, and the environmental health of society depends directly on the intersections between these disciplines of biology.