Evolving Better Biofilms: The Dynamics of Community-Level Natural Selection in Bacteria

进化更好的生物膜：细菌群落水平自然选择的动态

• 批准号: 0303636
• 负责人: Lauren Meyers
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-02-01 至 2005-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0303636&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Evolving; Better; Biofilms; Dynamics; Community

This project addresses the evolution of multi-species communities using both bacterial and computational model systems. Biofilms are assemblages of bacteria that adhere to surfaces, both living and nonliving, and to each other. They are often composed of multiple species and cause human diseases, contaminate medical and food production equipment, corrode pipes, purify polluted waters, and protect materials from degradation. In this project, communities of species will be selected both in vitro and in silico to produce biofilms that are stronger and more resistant to parasites, antibiotics and/or caustic chemicals. These experiments will illuminate the effects of species composition and diversity on the evolution of a successful community.Natural selection not only favors fit organisms but also can act at a higher level, favoring entire populations over others, a process known as group selection. In multi-species bacterial infections, combinations of species that form stable, transmissible infections will successfully proliferate to new hosts, and will thereby be favored as an entire assemblage for further evolution. In cheese production and wastewater decontamination, dairy producers and environmental engineers artificially select among mixed communities of bacteria for those that perform these tasks best. What allows mixed communities to solve some ecological problems better that homogeneous communities? Does community-level evolution follow the same principles as individual-level evolution? Although mixed microbial communities underlie many health and environmental concerns, virtually nothing is known about their evolution. Because biofilms thrive in nature as both monocultures and mixed cultures, they offer an ideal test bed for exploring the fundamentals of community-level selection.

该项目使用细菌和计算模型系统来解决多物种群落的进化问题。生物膜是附着在生物和非生物表面以及彼此之间的细菌的集合。它们通常由多个物种组成，引起人类疾病，污染医疗和食品生产设备，腐蚀管道，净化受污染的沃茨，并保护材料免受降解。在该项目中，将在体外和计算机上选择物种群落，以产生更强大，更能抵抗寄生虫，抗生素和/或腐蚀性化学品的生物膜。这些实验将阐明物种组成和多样性对一个成功群落进化的影响。自然选择不仅有利于合适的生物，而且可以在更高的水平上起作用，有利于整个种群，这一过程被称为群体选择。在多物种细菌感染中，形成稳定的、可传播感染的物种组合将成功地增殖到新的宿主，从而作为一个整体组合有利于进一步进化。在奶酪生产和废水净化过程中，乳制品生产商和环境工程师会在混合的细菌群落中人为地选择那些执行这些任务最好的细菌。是什么让混合社区比同质社区更好地解决一些生态问题？社区层面的进化是否遵循与个人层面进化相同的原则？尽管混合微生物群落是许多健康和环境问题的基础，但实际上对它们的进化一无所知。由于生物膜在自然界中既可以作为单一文化，也可以作为混合文化，因此它们为探索社区选择的基本原理提供了理想的测试平台。