Collaborative Research: Infection Decisions by Insect-Parasitic Nematodes

合作研究：昆虫寄生线虫的感染决定

• 批准号: 0333099
• 负责人: Sonny Ramaswamy
• 金额: $ 5.26万
• 依托单位: Kansas State University
• 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: 2003-09-15 至 2006-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0333099&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Infection; Decisions; Insect

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.

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，宿主被视为静态实体，但通常有多个个体感染单个宿主。 随着宿主感染的进展，宿主作为感染阶段寄生虫的资源的价值会发生变化。 因此，宿主与寄生虫的相互作用是动态的，并且预计感染阶段在感染过程的不同点对宿主会有不同的反应。这项研究的目的是解释昆虫寄生线虫与其宿主之间的行为相互作用。 具体来说，将讨论感染过程中挥发性宿主线索和接触宿主线索的变化如何影响寄生虫感染阶段的行为（宿主吸引和渗透）。 然后，将确定基于寄生虫的这些提示的决策的适应性结果。 最终，将解释寄生虫如何决定是否感染宿主，以及决策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）提高对寄生虫/寄主关系的理解，2）提高昆虫寄生线虫作为昆虫生物防治剂的可预测性，3）增加代表性不足群体的本科生进行研究的机会，4）开发昆虫寄生线虫/寄主关联作为高级本科课程的教学工具。