DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Role of Multiple Infections in the Evolution of Virulence

论文研究：多重感染在毒力进化中的作用

• 批准号: 0408083
• 负责人: Stephen Stearns
• 金额: $ 1.53万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-07-15 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0408083&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Role; Multiple; Infections

This research builds on field and laboratory work investigating the prevalence of multiple trypanosome infections in the Serengeti by experimentally addressing a central question of disease evolution. Theory predicts that competition among different parasites in one host animal will lead to increased severity (virulence) of each parasite, but empirical support for this prediction is scarce. To test the prediction, mice will be infected with different strains of Trypanosoma brucei, protozoan parasites of great economic and medical importance. Three parasite strains, visually distinguishable by different fluorescent markers introduced into their genomes, will be repeatedly passed through mice alone or in combinations. Parasites will then be isolated from mixed infections and their effect on mice will be measured to determine whether they have evolved to higher virulence than the same parasites in single infections, as theory would predict. The intellectual merit of the proposed experiment is to provide for a critical test of the effect of multiple infections on parasite virulence. The resulting empirical data will help put virulence evolution theory on a better foundation. The proposed research will have broader impact by improving our understanding of parasite and disease dynamics. As an international collaboration it will also transfer knowledge among institutions in the United States, Europe, and Africa.

这项研究建立在实地和实验室工作的基础上，通过实验解决疾病演变的中心问题，调查塞伦盖蒂多种锥虫感染的患病率。理论预测，在同一宿主动物中不同寄生虫之间的竞争将导致每种寄生虫的严重性（毒力）增加，但这一预测的经验支持是稀缺的。为了验证这一预测，小鼠将感染不同菌株的布氏锥虫，这种原生动物寄生虫具有重要的经济和医学意义。三种寄生虫菌株，通过引入其基因组的不同荧光标记在视觉上可区分，将单独或组合地重复通过小鼠。然后将寄生虫从混合感染中分离出来，并测量它们对小鼠的影响，以确定它们是否进化到比单一感染中的相同寄生虫更高的毒力，正如理论所预测的那样。拟议的实验的智力价值是提供一个关键的测试的影响，多次感染寄生虫的毒力。由此产生的经验数据将有助于把毒力进化理论的一个更好的基础。拟议的研究将通过提高我们对寄生虫和疾病动力学的理解而产生更广泛的影响。作为一项国际合作，它还将在美国、欧洲和非洲的机构之间转移知识。