Collaborative Research: OPUS: Anther-smut as a Disease Model - Traversing Disciplines

这个OPUS项目将产生一本书，综合了20年来NSF资助的关于宿主-病原体系统模型的研究：由真菌病原体微孢菌引起的花药黑穗病。这项研究的发现为生物学的许多领域提供了信息，包括人类疾病的重要方面，如性传播疾病的影响，决定新疾病出现的力量，以及这些力量如何与基因组水平的变化相互作用。本计画将提供大学及高中教师线上实验练习及相关背景资料，以供疾病生物学原理教学使用。 病原体直接或通过破坏农作物、家畜和自然生态系统给人类带来巨大的痛苦。通过制作一本可读性强、娱乐性强、信息量大的书，调查人员将展示花药黑穗病系统是如何导致跨越广泛学科的创新发现的。许多本科生和许多研究生已经进入疾病生物学通过动手研究与这个系统，这本书将刺激进一步研究的原则，中央的一些最严重的威胁人类健康和福利。

This OPUS project will produce a book synthesizing 20 years of NSF funded research on a model host-pathogen system: anther-smut disease caused by the fungal pathogen Microbotryum. This research has led to discoveries that have informed numerous areas of biology, including important aspects of human disease such as the impact of sexually transmitted diseases, the forces determining emergence of new diseases, and how these forces interact with changes at the genomic level. This project will provide college and high-school teachers online lab exercises and related background materials for using this system in teaching the principles of disease biology. Pathogens cause huge amounts of human misery, either directly or through the destruction of crops, domestic animals, and natural ecosystems. By producing a highly readable, entertaining, and informative book the investigators will show how the anther smut system has led to innovative discoveries that have traversed a wide range of disciplines. Numerous undergraduates and many graduate students have entered disease biology through hands-on research with this system, and this book will stimulate further research on principles central to some of the most severe threats to human health and welfare.