Collaborative Research: Host specificity strategies in a binary mutualism:

协作研究：以二元共生方式托管特异性策略：

• 批准号: 0919565
• 负责人: S-Patricia Stock
• 金额: $ 28万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-01 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0919565&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Host; specificity; strategies

All plants and animals, including humans have evolved to live in symbiotic association with microbes. At the cellular level, complex molecular circuitries monitor microbial populations and respond to either defend against harmful microbes, or recruit and maintain beneficial microbes. Current scientific knowledge is limited with regard to how animals distinguish among different microbes, enabling them to selectively recruit or restrict microbial colonization. This research focuses on understanding how bacterial symbionts interact with and affect their animal hosts, and how these interactions influence the evolution of inter-species cooperation. Three investigators with complementary expertise will conduct collaborative research on small soil-dwelling roundworms (nematodes) that have evolved mutually beneficial associations with a specific group of bacteria. Together the nematodes and bacteria form insecticidal complexes effective against a wide range of insect hosts, from which they derive nutrients for reproduction and dissemination. These associations involve different species of nematodes and bacteria, and current research indicates that different combinations have evolved varying degrees of dependence on each other. Research on these cooperative associations is poised to yield insights into the processes influencing selectivity and function of microbial symbioses. To help achieve this potential, this multidisciplinary research team will investigate for the first time specific bacterial traits contributing to host fitness in this system. Such knowledge will be critical to our understanding of the selective pressures influencing the evolution of specialized versus generalized associations between mutually benefiting partners. High school, undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students at the three collaborating institutions will be trained in the areas of evolution, molecular biology, nematology, entomology, and bacteriology through direct scientific inquiry. Thus, this project will provide fundamental insights into the ubiquitous process by which animals recognize, maintain, and benefit from their beneficial microbial partners, and will help train future scientists with the expertise to further apply this knowledge

所有的植物和动物，包括人类，都已经进化到与微生物共生的状态。在细胞水平上，复杂的分子电路监测微生物种群并作出反应，要么防御有害微生物，要么招募和维持有益微生物。目前的科学知识是有限的，关于动物如何区分不同的微生物，使他们能够选择性地招募或限制微生物定植。本研究的重点是了解细菌共生体如何与它们的动物宿主相互作用和影响，以及这些相互作用如何影响物种间合作的进化。三名具有互补专业知识的研究人员将对与特定细菌群形成互利关系的小型土栖蛔虫（线虫）进行合作研究。线虫和细菌共同形成杀虫复合物，对多种昆虫宿主有效，并从中获取繁殖和传播所需的营养。这些关联涉及不同种类的线虫和细菌，目前的研究表明，不同的组合已经进化出不同程度的相互依赖。对这些合作关系的研究将有助于深入了解影响微生物共生的选择性和功能的过程。为了帮助实现这一潜力，这个多学科研究小组将首次研究在该系统中对宿主适应性有贡献的特定细菌特性。这些知识对于我们理解选择压力对相互受益的伙伴之间的专业化与广义关联进化的影响至关重要。三所合作院校的高中生、本科生、研究生和博士后将通过直接的科学探究，在进化、分子生物学、线虫学、昆虫学和细菌学等领域接受培训。因此，该项目将为动物识别、维持和受益于有益微生物伙伴的普遍过程提供基本见解，并将帮助培养具有进一步应用这些知识的专业知识的未来科学家