Collaborative Research: Infection Decisions by Insect-Parasitic Nematodes

寄生虫感染阶段在感染之前评估潜在宿主的适宜性。传统上，宿主被认为是一个静态实体，但不止一个人经常感染单个宿主。随着宿主内感染的进展，宿主作为感染期寄生虫的资源的价值发生变化。因此，宿主-寄生虫的相互作用是动态的，预计感染阶段会在感染过程的不同时间点对宿主做出不同的反应。本研究的目的是解释昆虫寄生线虫与寄主之间的行为相互作用。具体地说，寄生虫感染阶段的行为(宿主吸引和穿透)如何受到感染过程中挥发性宿主线索和接触宿主线索的变化的影响。然后，寄生虫基于这些线索做出的决定的适合性结果将被确定。最终，将解释寄生虫如何决定是否感染宿主，以及决定的成本和收益如何影响寄生虫的成功。这项研究的影响包括：1)提高了对寄生虫/寄主关系的理解，2)增加了昆虫-寄生线虫作为昆虫生防剂的可预测性，3)增加了代表不足群体的本科生进行研究的机会，4)发展了昆虫-寄生线虫/寄主协会作为高级本科课程的教学工具。

Parasite infective stages evaluate a potential host for its suitability before committing to infection. A host has traditionally been regarded as a static entity, but more than one individual often infects a single host. As the infection in a host progresses, the value of the host as a resource to an infective stage parasite changes. Thus, host-parasite interactions are dynamic and infective stages are predicted to respond differently to hosts at different points in the infection process. The objective of this research is to explain behavioral interactions between insect-parasitic nematodes and their hosts. Specifically, how parasite infective stage behavior (host attraction and penetration) is affected by changes in volatile host cues and contact host cues during the course of infection will be addressed. Then, the fitness consequences of decisions based upon these cues by the parasites will be determined. Ultimately, how parasites decide whether or not to infect a host, and how the costs and benefits of decisions influence parasite success, will be explained. The impact of this research includes: 1) improved understanding of parasite/host relationships, 2) increased predictability of insect-parasitic nematodes as biological control agents for insects, 3) increased opportunities for undergraduate students of underrepresented groups to conduct research, 4) development of insect-parasitic nematode/host association as a teaching tool for advanced undergraduate courses.