Award Abstract # 1848900
Functional genomics of high-altitude adaptation in a non-human primate model

NSF Org: BCS
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Initial Amendment Date: September 9, 2019
Latest Amendment Date: September 9, 2019
Award Number: 1848900
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 1, 2019
End Date: January 31, 2020 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $394,352.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $394,352.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2019 = $343.00
History of Investigator:
  • Noah Snyder-Mackler (Principal Investigator)
    nsnyderm@asu.edu
  • Kenneth Chiou (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Washington
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE
SEATTLE
WA  US  98195-1016
(206)543-4043
Sponsor Congressional District: 07
Primary Place of Performance: University of Washington
4333 Brooklyn Ave NE
Seattle
WA  US  98195-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
07
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): HD1WMN6945W6
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Biological Anthropology,
Cross-Directorate Activities
Primary Program Source: 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 068Z, 1392
Program Element Code(s): 139200, 139700
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.075

ABSTRACT

Life at high altitude is associated with many physiological challenges, including exposure to low oxygen levels and cold temperatures. Consequently, most animals living at high altitude have been under strong selection to develop adaptations to these environmental challenges. Identifying adaptations in high-altitude-living animals, including non-human primates, could help illuminate the mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution of many traits. The central goal of this project is to identify these adaptations in a novel non-human primate model, the gelada monkey. The findings will advance our knowledge of how genetic changes lead to high-altitude adaptations in an important primate model system. The project will provide rigorous scientific training at the postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate levels. The investigators will also engage in public outreach and international research collaborations, contributing to scientific education and conservation efforts both domestically and abroad.

This project provides an innovative, robust, and multi-disciplinary framework, combining theories and tools from evolutionary biology, genomics, molecular biology, and biological anthropology, to investigate genetic adaptations to high altitude in a non-human primate. The project has two aims: (1) to generate and use a well-annotated gelada genome and regulatory map to identify gene families that have undergone gene expansion and genes under positive selection in gelada monkeys compared to their close phylogenetic relatives, and (2) to identify candidate loci that show signatures of positive selection in high-altitude geladas. The project will identify genes and family expansions whose role in high-altitude adaptations was previously unknown or poorly understood. The project also represents the application of cutting-edge techniques for the sequencing of animal genomes from non-invasive samples, thereby encouraging genomic analyses in wild organisms historically constrained by sample availability. Recent advances in high throughput genomic technologies, including the approaches the PI and co-PI have developed, have allowed researchers to identify genes and loci under selection in captivity and the wild. Together, the results of these studies will generate new hypotheses and predictions for high-altitude and other adaptations in humans and other animals through identification of genetic variants in a novel system. By identifying novel molecular changes that allow a close primate relative to thrive in hypoxic and cold environments, this project may also have translational implications for understanding human diseases of impaired oxygen intake and transport.

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.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:  When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

DeLacey, Patricia M. and Perlman, Rachel F. and Sen, Sharmi and Schneider-Crease, India and Chiou, Kenneth L. and Lemma, Alemayehu and Ayele, Ferehiwot and Higham, James P. and Lu, Amy and Snyder-Mackler, Noah and Beehner, Jacinta C. and Bergman, Thore J. "Assessing male gelada chest patches: color measurement and physiological mechanisms" Mammalian Biology , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-021-00211-5 Citation Details

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.

Print this page

Back to Top of page