OPUS: Synthesizing Defensive Symbiosis from a Microbial Perspective

基本上所有的植物和动物都被各种各样的共生微生物所殖民。人体内90%的细胞是细菌。有些微生物可能是导致宿主疾病或死亡的病原体，而其他微生物，如动物的肠道细菌，可能是它们的营养和生存所必需的。越来越多的文献表明，许多共生微生物发挥防御作用，保护其宿主免受寄生虫，病原体和食草动物等天敌的侵害。该项目的目标是回顾和综合过去的研究结果，以获得新的见解的潜在机制和生态后果的防御共生。过去实现这一目标的研究集中在两组不同的防御性共生体上：产生有毒生物碱的草真菌共生体，使宿主植物对食草动物有毒，以及蜱虫的细菌共生体，可能排除病原体或减少其传播。这些相互作用可以为宿主提供强大的优势，导致防御性共生的流行率增加。该项目的主要成果将是一本关于防御性共生的书，其中综合了以前与生态学、微生物学和动植物健康等更广泛研究领域有关的研究，并突出了未来研究的重要领域。第二个产品将是一个开放访问的数据库，来自一个13年的实验，在实验草原上操纵防御共生。 防御性共生对我们的经济、环境和人类健康有重大影响。例如，草的产毒素真菌共生体对于放牧牲畜是一个严重的问题，但在草坪草系统中提供有效的生物防治害虫。同样，许多节肢动物宿主细菌共生体抑制病原体感染或传播，包括重要的人类病原体，如登革热病毒。在人类中，改变我们正常的微生物群会导致许多健康问题，包括疾病。总之，许多生态系统中的关键物种具有防御性共生的特点。由此产生的书将提供一个广泛访问和全面的机构，过去的结果，提高我们的理解防御共生和通知未来的应用程序，这些相互作用。该数据库将为学生和其他科学家提供研究机会。

Essentially all plants and animals are colonized by a diverse array of symbiotic microorganisms. For example, 90% of the cells in the human body are bacteria. Some microorganisms may be pathogens that cause disease or death of their hosts while others, such as gut bacteria of animals, may be essential for their nutrition and survival. A growing body of literature suggests that a number of symbiotic microorganisms play a defensive role, protecting their hosts against natural enemies such as parasites, pathogens and herbivores. The goal of this project is to review and synthesize the results of past studies to gain new insights into the underlying mechanisms and ecological consequences of defensive symbiosis. Past research leading to this goal has focused on two distinct groups of defensive symbionts: toxic alkaloid-producing fungal symbionts of grasses that make host plants poisonous to grazing animals and bacterial symbionts of ticks that may exclude pathogens or reduce their transmission. These interactions can provide a strong advantage to hosts, leading to an increase in the prevalence of defensive symbiosis. The major product of this project will be a book on defensive symbiosis that synthesizes previous research in relation to broader areas of research in ecology, microbiology and plant and animal health, and that highlights important areas for future research. A second product will be an open-access database from a 13-year experiment manipulating defensive symbiosis in experimental grasslands. Defensive symbiosis has significant impacts on our economy, the environment and human health. For example, toxin-producing fungal symbionts of grasses are a serious problem for grazing livestock but provide effective biocontrol against pests in turfgrass systems. Likewise, many arthropods host bacterial symbionts that inhibit pathogen infection or transmission, including important human pathogens, such as the dengue fever virus. In humans, altering our normal microbiota can lead to a number of health problems including disease. In sum, key species in many ecosystems are characterized by defensive symbiosis. The resulting book will provide a widely accessible and comprehensive body of past results, improving our understanding of defensive symbiosis and informing future applications of these interactions. The database will provide research opportunities for students and other scientists.