EID: Microbial Community Ecology of Tick-Borne Human Pathogens

EID：蜱传人类病原体的微生物群落生态学

• 批准号: 0326842
• 负责人: Keith Clay
• 金额: $ 188.4万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0326842&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EID; Microbial; Community; Ecology; Tick

The goal of this project is to investigate microbial interactions within ticks and how those interactions affect the prevalence of human pathogens. Ticks are the primary source of infectious disease transmitted by arthropod vectors in the United States, including Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and many other newly-recognized and emerging human diseases. Ticks also carry a variety of non-pathogenic symbiotic bacteria. Most of this microbial diversity has only become apparent with the advent of powerful molecular tools. Preliminary evidence suggests that these symbionts can exclude pathogens, reducing human disease risk. Using molecular genetic methods, the microbial communities of medically-important tick species will be quantified and statistical tests will be applied to test the strength and direction of microbial interactions. In addition, microbial interactions will be incorporated into epidemiological models to determine conditions where microorganisms within ticks interfere with or amplify one another.The results of this research will contribute to a general understanding of how microbial interactions affect pathogen prevalence, disease epidemiology, and human disease risk. This research will also explore new techniques for quantifying pathogen populations and microbial communities, and contribute significantly to scientific education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral levels. Microbial interactions within other arthropod vectors (e.g., mosquitoes, fleas, lice, bugs) are likely to be common, including vectors of an ever-growing list of emerging human diseases and pathogens identified as bioterrorism threats.

该项目的目标是研究蜱虫内的微生物相互作用以及这些相互作用如何影响人类病原体的流行。蜱是美国节肢动物传播疾病的主要来源，包括莱姆病、落基山斑点热和许多其他新认识和新出现的人类疾病。 蜱也携带各种非致病性共生细菌。 大多数微生物多样性只是随着强大的分子工具的出现而变得明显。 初步证据表明，这些共生体可以排除病原体，降低人类疾病风险。使用分子遗传学方法，将对医学上重要的蜱种属的微生物群落进行量化，并应用统计学检验来测试微生物相互作用的强度和方向。此外，微生物的相互作用将被纳入流行病学模型，以确定蜱内微生物相互干扰或放大的条件，这项研究的结果将有助于对微生物相互作用如何影响病原体流行，疾病流行病学和人类疾病风险的一般理解。这项研究还将探索量化病原体种群和微生物群落的新技术，并为本科生，研究生和博士后水平的科学教育做出重大贡献。 其他节肢动物载体内的微生物相互作用（例如，蚊子、跳蚤、虱子、臭虫）可能很常见，包括越来越多的新出现的人类疾病的病媒和被确定为生物恐怖主义威胁的病原体。