Relative importance of genetic variability for predicting parasitism

遗传变异对于预测寄生的相对重要性

• 批准号: 0841654
• 负责人: Matthew Gompper
• 金额: $ 28.74万
• 依托单位: University of Missouri-Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-04-01 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0841654&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Relative; importance; genetic; variability; predicting

Diseases do not affect all individuals in the same way. Why does one animal get sick, when another, exposed to the same environmental conditions, remains healthy? Answering this question offers a central challenge in disease ecology. The answer may lie in differences in genetic make-up of individuals. Some individuals have a greater diversity of alleles than other individuals do. Evidence from inbred populations suggests that an individual's genetic diversity might be associated with reduced levels of parasitism, but this relationship has never been examined in a large, natural population. This research will address two questions. Does genetic diversity enhance an individual's ability to resist parasites? How important is the effect of genetic diversity relative to the many other factors that are also known to be strong predictors of parasitism? These questions will be addressed by generating genetic and parasite profiles for individual animals from a large, well-studied, animal population. Statistical models will be used to assess the importance of genetic variability in determining parasite burdens.Human welfare depends in a way that is truly fundamental on a basic understanding of the factors that control disease. This research will enhance understanding of the role of genetics in controlling resistance to parasitism. A post-doctoral student and undergraduate students will be trained.

疾病并不以同样的方式影响所有人。为什么一只动物生病，而另一只暴露在同样的环境条件下却保持健康？回答这个问题为疾病生态学提供了一个核心挑战。答案可能在于个体基因构成的差异。有些个体的等位基因比其他个体更多样化。来自近亲繁殖种群的证据表明，个体的遗传多样性可能与寄生水平降低有关，但这种关系从未在大型自然种群中得到检验。这项研究将解决两个问题。基因多样性是否增强了个体抵抗寄生虫的能力？遗传多样性的影响与许多其他已知的也能预测寄生虫病的因素相比有多重要？这些问题将通过从大量经过充分研究的动物种群中生成单个动物的遗传和寄生虫谱来解决。统计模型将用于评估遗传变异在确定寄生虫负担方面的重要性。人类的福祉在某种程度上取决于对控制疾病的因素的基本理解。本研究将加深对遗传在控制寄生抗性中的作用的认识。培养博士后1名，本科生1名。