| NSF Org: |
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 6, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 6, 2013 |
| Award Number: | 1341018 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Rebecca Ferrell
rferrell@nsf.gov (703)292-7850 BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 15, 2013 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2016 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $24,138.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $24,138.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1 BROOKINGS DR SAINT LOUIS MO US 63130-4862 (314)747-4134 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
MO US 63130-4899 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Biological Anthropology |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
Hybridization, defined as interbreeding between genetically distinct populations, is increasingly recognized as a common occurrence in plants and animals that is important for understanding the speciation process. While most speciation probably results from physical barriers to genetic interchange, this separation is not always absolute and the possibility of hybridization is ever-present. In primates, ongoing hybridization has been identified in most major taxonomic groups and recent studies are increasingly detecting episodes of ancient hybridization in the genomes of living primates, including humans. The mechanisms of hybridization and its role in shaping primate evolutionary histories, however, remain unresolved.
This research by doctoral student Kenneth Chiou (Washington University in St. Louis), under the supervision of Dr. Jane Phillips-Conroy, uses hybridization as a 'natural experiment' for understanding the spatial structure of genetic variation in Kinda and gray-footed chacma baboons, which hybridize in and around Kafue National Park, Zambia. Like humans, baboons inhabit diverse environments, have long life histories and complex social organizations, and share a recent common ancestor, making them ideal models for understanding global patterns of genetic variation in humans. Using the latest DNA sequencing techniques, tens of thousands of markers from across the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes are typed from individuals across the hybrid zone. These markers are used to better understand the roles of local adaptation and of differences in social organization in structuring genetic variation within species, between species, and in interspecific hybrids.
This study provides an innovative framework for characterizing the influences of various processes on genetic variation. As one of the first genomic studies of a wild primate hybrid zone, this study increases our understanding of natural hybridization and generates the first genetic data for large areas of a major baboon contact zone. DNA sequence data are deposited in public databases and all software is made freely available under open source licenses. By creating opportunities for collaboration and outreach in both the United States and abroad, this project helps promote scientific literacy and the maintenance of biodiversity.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of this dissertation project was to analyze the patterning of genetic variation across a baboon hybrid zone in Zambia. Hybridization, the successful reproduction between divergent species, is increasingly recognized as a common occurrence with important implications on the evolution of organisms at both the microevolutionary and macroevolutionary scales. For this project, I collected biological samples from Kinda baboons, gray-footed chacma baboons, and their hybrids across a roughly 200 km area surrounding Kafue National Park, Zambia. I then sequenced genome-wide genetic markers from these animals using massively-parallel, high-throughput methods. This dataset was used to scan for genomic regions under selection between the two hybridizing baboon species, to characterize geographical patterns of ancestry across the hybrid zone, and to assess the roles of local adaptation and adaptive introgression in shaping genetic variation across the hybrid zone.
Importantly, obtaining suitable biological samples from wild, unhabituated baboons through live-trapping methods proved to be an extremely difficult exercise. For this project, I therefore developed a successful laboratory method for efficiently obtaining genome-wide genetic information from feces, which is of low-quality for genetic analysis due to the dominating presence of bacterial DNA but is easy and ethical to obtain. I validated this method by demonstrating efficient partitioning of bacterial DNA from host baboon DNA, then demonstrated that the resulting genetic data conveyed substantial genetic information with low bias compared to high-quality genetic data from blood.
The dataset generated for this project is yielding important insights for our understanding of the history of the baboon hybrid zone and of the process of hybridization in general. My results show that hybridization in the contact zone is more extensive than previously demonstrated. Genetic analysis of selection between Kinda and gray-footed chacma baboons demonstrate that selection on genes involved in growth and development played a major role in the differentiation of the two species. Genetic analysis of the hybrid zone is showing that both local adaptation and adaptive introgression affect the patterning of variation in the hybrid zone.
This project has provided an innovative and robust framework for characterizing the influences of various processes on genetic variation. As one of the first genomic studies of a wild primate hybrid zone, it is also producing valuable information regarding a process that is increasingly appreciated for its importance in evolution. Finally, the laboratory methods for this project enable state-of-the-art genetic techniques to be applied to wild populations without the need for invasive samples, paving the way for future genomic analyses of wild populations.
This project has resulted in substantial professional training for the dissertation grantee in genomic and bioinformatic methods. One article has already been submitted for peer review, and others are in preparation. The laboratory method developed for this project has been presented to colleagues at the 2016 International Primatological Society congress in Chicago. We continue to publicize the method and provide technical assistance. The project has also yielded a collaborative relationship with colleagues in Zambia and has provided research training for wildlife scouts and local residents.
Last Modified: 11/29/2016
Modified by: Kenneth L Chiou
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