Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Investigating contact zones to understand the genomic and environmental underpinnings of reproductive isolation and adaptive introgression

Farleigh, Keaka, Oxford OH

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2024, 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. A central goal of evolutionary biology is understanding how new species emerge. This process is known as speciation and is influenced by complex factors that are not fully understood. Researchers can learn about the factors that influence speciation by studying closely related species that live in the same area and interbreed, along with other species that can be found in the same area but do not interbreed. This research will help us understand how different factors promote or limit speciation by studying the relationship between environmental conditions, physical traits, and genetic variation. The findings from this research will help us learn about how biodiversity has arisen. This research will also produce online tutorials and book chapters that are available to the public. These resources will introduce people to bioinformatics and provide training to students from high school to graduate school. Theory and empirical work suggest that natural selection can promote the accumulation of barrier effects that limit gene flow between species, which is required for reproductive isolation to evolve, and that it can also promote gene flow between species, which erodes the barriers. Previous studies, however, have often considered these alternative outcomes in isolation, limiting our ability to understand the interplay between gene flow and selection during speciation. This research will consider these alternative outcomes and test theoretical predictions using speckled rattlesnakes. Speckled rattlesnakes are an ideal system to explore the role of natural selection in alternative outcomes because speckled rattlesnakes include lineages at various stages of divergence, independent contact zones, distinct climatic niches, and remarkable phenotypic variation. The fellow’s training will include whole genome sequencing of the speckled rattlesnake complex and statistical techniques to link genotypes to phenotypes, understand conditions where natural selection imposes selective pressures, and establish the links between genotypic, phenotypic, and environmental variation. The fellow will also mentor undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Virginia, through the rOpenSci champions program, and by hosting a bioinformatic workshop to introduce high school, undergraduate, and graduate students to bioinformatics. These experiences will allow the fellow to develop mentorship skills and contribute to broadening participation in science. 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.