Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Investigating developmental genetic and environmental modulators of segment addition in annelid worms

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2025. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to biology in innovative ways. Many successful and diverse groups of animals, such as insects, have segmented bodies.

These repeated units can act as “building blocks” aiding in the evolution of advantageous traits, like new appendage types. However, little is known about the genetic program responsible for segment formation in annelids, the segmented worms (such as earthworms). Additionally, many annelids continue to add segments as juveniles and adults—when they are susceptible to environmental impacts.

The main goals of the project are to identify the genetic program responsible for annelids’ segmented bodies and examine how resource availability influences segment addition. The project will facilitate new insights into the evolution of animal diversity and has application to other fields including regeneration (of body parts). This work will also encourage the next generation of scientists by including undergraduate researchers.

Segment formation has been well studied in arthropods and vertebrates. However, little is known about the developmental genetics of segmentation in annelids. Available studies suggest annelids use a unique genetic program to form segments.

Although annelid-specific segmentation candidate genes have been identified, their functions remain unknown. Using Capitella teleta, the project utilizes established gene knockdown techniques to investigate putative segmentation genes. The project also deploys spatial transcriptomics for unbiased identification of novel segmentation genes; top candidates will be perturbed to ascertain segmentation function.

The project also examines the segmentation program’s robustness to environmental stressors, identifying impacts on juvenile segment development associated with a resource poor environment. The project expands the fellow’s bioinformatic and functional genomic skillsets; refines their communication and mentoring skills; and broadens their intellectual framework via incorporating multiple life history stages and environmental factors into an evolutionary developmental study.

The project will promote STEM by developing a new writing workshop for graduate students, creating a podcast on STEM careers, mentoring undergraduate researchers, and designing a K-12 teaching module on annelids.

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.