Building a Life Science Transfer Community: The Transfer-student Research and Integration Program (TRIP)

The Transfer-student Research and Integration Program (TRIP) prepares life science students for placement in graduate school or the STEM workforce by supporting their professional development and integration into the UCF community. TRIP students also receive a team-based research experience and an opportunity to present at regional conferences. An $8,000 scholarship distributed over the course of the 2-year program reduces financial barriers and encourages students to spend more time on campus and in a research environment. This poster provides an overview of the challenges facing transfer students, the solutions offered by TRIP, and early outcomes from the first cohort of our National Science Foundation-sponsored program

Gene-poor Y-chromosomes substantially impact male trait heritabilities and may help shape sexually dimorphic evolution

How natural selection facilitates sexually dimorphic evolution despite a shared genome is unclear. The patrilineal inheritance of Y-chromosomes makes them an appealing solution. However, they have largely been dismissed due to their gene-poor, heterochromatic nature and because the additive genetic variation necessary for adaptive evolution is theoretically difficult to maintain. Further, previous empirical work has revealed only Y-linked sign epistatic variance segregating within populations, which can often impede adaptive evolution. To assess the evolutionary impact of Y-linked variation, we established replicate populations in Drosophila simulans containing multiple Y-chromosomes (YN populations) or a single Y-chromosome variant (Y1 populations) drawn from a single population. We estimated male and female heritabilities for several traits known to be influenced by Y-chromosomes, including the number of sternopleural bristles, abdominal bristles, sex comb teeth, and tibia length. A decrease in YN heritabilities compared with Y1 would be consistent with Y-chromosome variation being sign epistatic. A decrease in Y1 heritabilities would be consistent with Y-chromosome variation being additive, though additive-by-additive variation cannot be entirely dismissed. Female heritability estimates served as controls and were not expected to differ. We found male Y1 populations exhibited lower heritabilities for all traits except tibia length; consistent with Y-linked additivity (on average YN trait heritabilities were 25% greater than Y1). Female estimates showed no difference. These data suggest Y-chromosomes should play an important role in male trait evolution and may even influence sexually dimorphic evolution by shaping traits shared by both sexes