DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Evolutionary Ecology of Resistance to Infection in Natural Populations of Drosophila

寄生虫通常零星地分布在宿主种群中，其中一些宿主被严重寄生，而其他宿主则不受感染。寄生虫流行率的部分差异可能是由于宿主抵抗感染能力的差异。本研究的主要重点是利用果蝇模型系统，确定维持宿主种群内部和宿主种群之间对细菌感染抗性变化的因素。先前的研究表明，果蝇宿主种群中存在变异。利用有机和分子方法的结合，研究人员通过调查宿主种群的变异来扩展这些努力，目的是了解维持这种变异的进化和生态因素。总之，这些实验将解决有关感染抗性进化的几个重要问题，以及更一般地说，自然界中的疾病动态。这项工作特别重要，因为它解决了在广泛的空间尺度上维持宿主抗性变化的力量，并将帮助科学家进一步发展果蝇作为一个强大的模型系统来研究自然界中宿主-寄生虫相互作用的遗传学。此外，这项研究对了解疾病在各种宿主物种中的传播和流行具有直接意义。

Parasites are often patchily distributed across host populations, where some hosts are heavily parasitized, other hosts remain free from infection. Part of this variation in parasite prevalence is likely due to variation in the host's ability to resist infection. The main focus of this research is to identify factors that maintain variation in resistance to bacterial infection both within and among host populations, using the model system Drosophila melanogaster. Previous work shows that variation exists within Drosophila host populations. Using a combination of organismal and molecular approaches, the researchers extend these efforts by investigating variation across host populations, with the aim of understanding the evolutionary and ecological factors that maintain this variation.Together, these experiments will address several important questions regarding the evolution of resistance to infection and, more generally, disease dynamics in nature. This work is particularly significant because it addresses the forces maintaining variation in host resistance across broad spatial scales, and will help scientists to further develop Drosophila as a powerful model system to study the genetics of host-parasite interactions in nature. In addition, this research has direct implications for understanding the spread and prevalence of disease in a variety of host species.