USAP-DC

The overarching goal of this research is to use cumaceans as a model system to explore invertebrate adaptations to the changing Antarctic. This project will leverage integrative taxonomy, functional, comparative and evolutionary genomics, and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand the true diversity of Cumacea in the Antarctic, identify genes and gene families experiencing expansions, selection, or significant differential expression, generate a broadly sampled and robust phylogenetic framework for Cumacea based on transcriptomes and genomes, and explore rates and timing of diversification in Antarctic cumaceans. The project will contribute to understanding of gene gain/loss, positive selection, and differential gene expression as a function of adaptation of organisms to Antarctic habitats. Phylogenomic analyses will provide a robust phylogenetic framework for Southern Ocean Cumacea. Currently, the only -omics level data that exists for the Cumacea is one transcriptome. This project will generate 8 genomes from 8 species, about 250 transcriptomes from about 70 species, and approximately 470 COI and 16S barcodes from about 100 species. Beyond the immediate scope of the current project, the genomic resources will be leveraged by members of the polar biology and invertebrate zoology communities for diverse other uses ranging from PCR primer development to inference of ancestral population sizes. In addition, curated morphological reference collections will be deposited at the Smithsonian, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, and in the New Zealand National Water and Atmospheric Research collection at Greta Point, to assist future researchers in identification of Antarctic cumaceans.

Person	Role
Gerken, Sarah	Investigator and contact
Kocot, Kevin	Investigator
Vandersommen, Victoria	Researcher

Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems	Award # 2138994
Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems	Award # 2138993
Polar Special Initiatives	Award # 2138993

USAP-2138993_1

Deployment	Type
Cumacean-Omics, Ross Sea
Icy Inverts, East Antarctica	ship expedition

Data_management_final.pdf