NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Evolution of the extended floral phenotype

Freundlich, Grace, Louisville KY

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. The Fellow will investigate the effect of biotic interactions on the expression and evolution of floral traits. Pollinators are a significant force of selection on floral traits, including size, color, and scent. Floral tissues frequently harbor a diversity of microbes, however, which impact cues important for pollinator attraction, with consequences for host reproduction. Despite the potential for such effects, it remains unclear whether microbes can modify pollinator-mediated selection on floral traits. After manipulating interactions among a flowering host, pollinator, and microbes the Fellow will use chemical and molecular techniques to assess the strength and direction of selection exerted on floral traits by these biotic interactions. Such research will advance pollination biology and inform understanding of factors promoting floral diversification. The Fellow will also collaborate with local institutions and programs to broaden participation of underrepresented groups at the middle school, high school, and undergraduate levels through providing opportunities for learning and research. The Fellow will test the hypothesis that floral microbes and pollinators jointly shape selection on floral phenotype. Using fast-cycling Brassica rapa plants and an experimental evolution framework, the Fellow will manipulate interactions among host plant, bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), bacterium (Bacillus subtilis), and/or yeast (Metschnikowia reukaufii) to dissect biotic drivers of floral phenotypic evolution. More specifically, the Fellow will address the following three objectives: 1) examination of interactive effects of microbes and pollinators on floral evolution, 2) characterization of molecular mechanisms underlying shifts in floral phenotype, and 3) assessment of reciprocal selection on microbial inhabitants of flowers. By considering such eco-evolutionary dynamics among interacting partners, and taking a multi-level selection approach that employs genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic approaches, this study will address an important but understudied component of pollination mutualism and the sources of variation upon which natural selection can act. In performing the research, the Fellow will acquire new skills in genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Finally, middle school, high school, and college students from groups underrepresented in the sciences will be included in the research, with the Fellow also giving guest lectures in plant science courses and at outreach events. 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.