This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Hybridization, the sharing of genetic material between different species (to form a hybrid), was once thought to happen infrequently; however new data are revealing that this process is common across the tree of life. The widespread occurrence of hybrids throughout life has profound impacts on humans; from the microorganisms used to make food, food crops, to human biology itself. For example, ancient hybridization between humans and extinct relatives led to the sharing of important genes. Different factors influence what happens when the genetic material of two different species is combined in a hybrid. This project will combine data from diverse species with experiments to investigate how variables such as when hybridization happened, how different the species that hybridized were, and how genes from each distinct species interact together shape the outcomes of hybridization. Answering these questions will help to understand how hybridization, once thought to be rare, has influenced the genomes of diverse species, including humans. Educational materials and outreach about the research will increase the broader impacts of the project.
This research will integrate whole-genome data and analyze the ancestry of diverse groups of organisms with a history of hybridization: including plants, animals, and fungi. With this the fellow will build a model of hybrid genome evolution that incorporates numerous variables that influence this dynamic process; including mating-system, recombination rates, time of hybridization, level of divergence between parental species, and other demographic variables. These rich datasets can be leveraged to characterize adaptive introgression and to identify coordinated introgression or lack of introgression across the genome. Identifying gene networks that are permissive or resistant to introgression in hybrids will provide insight into functional implications of hybridization and could predict the repeatability of hybridization. With synthetic yeast hybrids, the fellow will track genome evolution and fitness changes in real time. The results of this experimental evolution can be compared to observations in wild hybrids to shed light on the potential paths to genomic stabilization in hybrids. Through this project the fellow will develop many new skills; including expertise in experimental evolution, simulation, comparative computational approaches, and theory and model refinement. The fellow will also gain teaching and outreach experience, through course development and hands-on applications in classroom settings.
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.
