How Nutritional Interactions in Multi-Partner Symbioses are Structured

多伙伴共生中的营养相互作用是如何构建的

• 批准号: 1354743
• 负责人: Angela Douglas
• 金额: $ 64.81万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-04-01 至 2019-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1354743&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: How; Nutritional; Interactions; Multi; Partner

Many insects, including pests of agricultural and medical importance, bear symbiotic bacteria that provide essential nutrients to their insect hosts, but the composition and amount of nutrients transferred between the partners are largely unknown. This project will investigate insect-bacterial nutrient exchange in insects that feed on the extremely nutrient-poor diet of plant xylem sap. Exploiting recent advances in genomics and metabolic modeling, the investigators will quantify the capacity of both insect and bacteria to synthesize key nutrients, and then integrate these results in the form of metabolic models that describe the amount of each nutrient transferred between the partners. These models enable testing of two fundamental predictions: that nutrients produced in excess by one partner are required by other partners, achieving the nutritional efficiency that is required for insects to survive on xylem sap; and that the profile of nutrients received by the insects from their bacterial partners is defined by the overall metabolic network, and not simply the gene content of the bacteria. The integrated molecular understanding of the nutritional interactions between the insects and bacteria generated by this research will identify specific targets for novel pest control strategies against important xylem-feeding insect pests which transmit plant pathogens affecting citrus, grape, coffee and other crops. The project will provide training in state-of-the-art genomic and modeling methods for a postdoctoral researcher and graduate and undergraduate students. To address the increasingly recognized gap between research infrastructure and educational resources in sequence analysis and bioinformatics, the investigators will provide hands-on experience in genomics to students from local higher education institutions with limited genomics educational resources, and also develop lesson plans for genomics/ bioinformatics education in schools.

许多昆虫，包括农业和医学上重要的害虫，携带共生细菌，为它们的昆虫宿主提供必需的营养，但在伴侣之间转移的营养成分和数量在很大程度上是未知的。 本计画将研究以营养极贫乏的植物木质部汁液为食的昆虫，其体内的昆虫-细菌营养交换。 利用基因组学和代谢建模的最新进展，研究人员将量化昆虫和细菌合成关键营养素的能力，然后将这些结果以代谢模型的形式整合，描述每种营养素在伴侣之间转移的量。 这些模型能够测试两个基本的预测：一个合作伙伴产生的过量营养物质是其他合作伙伴所需要的，实现了昆虫在木质部汁液中生存所需的营养效率;昆虫从其细菌合作伙伴那里获得的营养物质的概况是由整体代谢网络定义的，而不仅仅是细菌的基因含量。 通过这项研究产生的昆虫和细菌之间的营养相互作用的综合分子理解将确定针对重要的木质部喂养害虫传播影响柑橘，葡萄，咖啡和其他作物的植物病原体的新的害虫控制策略的具体目标。该项目将为博士后研究人员以及研究生和本科生提供最先进的基因组和建模方法的培训。 为了解决序列分析和生物信息学研究基础设施和教育资源之间日益认识到的差距，研究人员将为来自基因组学教育资源有限的当地高等教育机构的学生提供基因组学的实践经验，并为学校的基因组学/生物信息学教育制定课程计划。