NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Integrating Phenotypic and Genomic Data across Multiple Hybrid Zones to Understand the Evolution of Reproductive Isolation in Snakes

Bernstein, Justin Matthew, West Orange NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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 field of evolutionary biology has become instrumental in advancing our understanding of the mechanisms that generate and maintain the diversity of life on the planet. This research will use rattlesnakes as a study system to understand the process of speciation by studying the mechanisms that promote lineage divergence early in this process. The project focuses on understanding how hybridizing species maintain partial reproductive isolation, and the roles of various evolutionary processes in shaping reproductive isolation. Understanding these mechanisms is important for expanding current knowledge of how species arise in nature, and how the roles of distinct evolutionary processes may shift as the speciation process proceeds. Additionally, the Fellow will be involved in training undergraduates from underrepresented groups in methods and theory related to this research. Genomes and related datasets will be published and made freely available to others in order to enhance public outreach to diverse audiences as well as advancing future investigations by the scientific community. This project will use whole genome and RNA sequencing from species of the Western Rattlesnake species complex to understand the roles of various evolutionary mechanisms that contribute to reproductive isolation by comparing multiple hybrid zones and thereby investigating broad “rules of life” that may govern the process of speciation. The Fellow will test hypotheses for the roles of genomic incompatibilities and other processes in driving reproductive isolation, and test if discovered patterns are predictable across multiple, distinct hybrid zones. The Fellow will also test the hypothesis that similar barrier traits and their underlying genomic loci impact hybrid fitness in distinct hybrid zones by integrating genomic, gene expression, phenotypic, and environmental data. These integrated analyses will be used to understand the relationships between traits and the loci that underlie them, and the roles that traits and underlying loci play in hybrid fitness and reproductive isolation. This project will involve specific training of the Fellow in bioinformatics and speciation theory, and the organization of public outreach events and research symposia; these activities include involvement of students from groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines. 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.