DISSERTATION RESEARCH: From Metabolites to Continent: Host-parasite Interaction across Spatio-temporal Scales

所有生物都与寄生虫相互作用。通常，这些相互作用的结果是宿主发病或死亡。然而，在某些情况下，宿主的行为可以被寄生虫操纵。这种行为操纵增加了寄生虫的传播，要么是传播到对其发育至关重要的新环境，要么是传播到新宿主。虽然存在许多寄生虫行为操纵的例子，但对其背后的机制知之甚少。研究人员将通过分析宿主大脑在被操纵的确切时刻的基因表达来研究寄生虫操纵的遗传基础。由于操纵行为的寄生虫也会导致宿主疾病，研究人员将使用非操纵性寄生虫作为比较。因此，他们将能够区分疾病和操纵的遗传基础。由于许多操纵者利用免疫系统和神经连接，了解它们如何操纵宿主具有实际和理论应用，使我们更好地了解疾病行为和精神障碍。大脑掠夺者在公众中非常受欢迎，包括K-12，因为他们把他们的主机变成“僵尸”。“调查人员将利用这种受欢迎程度，把科学带到K-12教室和当地社区。研究人员将通过研究行为操纵过程中宿主的基因表达来研究寄生虫行为操纵的近似机制。由于操纵性寄生虫也会导致疾病，并且操纵后立即死亡，因此也会导致宿主疾病和死亡的通才非操纵性寄生虫将用作对照。健康、未感染的宿主大脑将被用作正常基因表达的基线。研究人员将使用Illumina HiSeq 2500技术将操纵的宿主大脑的转录组与那些呈现一般疾病和死亡症状的大脑进行比较。这将使研究小组能够捕获在操纵过程中差异表达的基因，并且与一般疾病或死亡过程无关。了解被操纵宿主的基因表达是了解寄生虫行为操纵机制的基础。此外，这些数据将在跨学科的更广泛的背景下进行解释，以及同一研究小组采用的其他方法（不同的生态尺度），以充分了解寄生操纵。该项目的结果将发表在同行评审的期刊上，并在会议上发表。该项目的所有数据将托管在公共数据库（如Genbank和Dryad）上，并存储在宾夕法尼亚州立大学的可访问数据库中。

All living organisms interact with parasites. Often, the outcome of these interactions is either morbidity or the death of the host. However, in some instances, the behavior of the host can be manipulated by the parasite. This behavioral manipulation increases the transmission of the parasite, either to a new environment crucial for its development, or to a new host. Although many examples of parasitic behavioral manipulation exist, little is known of the mechanisms underlying it. Investigators will study the genetic basis of parasitic manipulation by analyzing the gene expression of host brains at the exact moment they are being manipulated. Because the parasite that manipulates the behavior also results in host sickness, the investigators will use a non-manipulative parasite as a comparison. Thus, they will be able to distinguish between the genetic basis of sickness and manipulation. Since many manipulators exploit immune systems and neural connections, understanding how they manipulate their host has practical and theoretical applications, leading us to better understand sickness behavior and mental disorders. Brain snatchers are very popular among the general public, including K-12, as they turn their host into "zombies." Investigators will leverage this popularity to bring science to K-12 classrooms and local communities. Investigators will study the proximate mechanisms of parasitic behavioral manipulation, by studying gene expression of the host during the moment of behavioral manipulation. Because the manipulative parasite also causes sickness, and the manipulation is immediately followed by death, a generalist non-manipulative parasite that also results in sickness and death of the host will be used as control. Healthy, uninfected, host brains will be used as a baseline for normal gene expression. Investigators will use Illumina HiSeq 2500 technology to compare the transcriptome of manipulated host brains with those that present general sickness and death symptoms. This will allow the research team to capture the genes that are differentially expressed during manipulation and are not related to general sickness or death processes. Understanding the gene expression of a manipulated host is a fundamental step to understand the mechanisms underlying behavioral manipulation by parasites. Additionally, the data will be interpreted in an interdisciplinary broader context, together with other approaches (different ecological scales) employed by the same research group to fully understand the parasitic manipulation. Results of this project will be published in peer-reviewed journals and also presented at conferences. All data from this project will be hosted on public databases such as Genbank and Dryad as well as stored on Penn State's publically accessible databases.