EAGER: Tick-host interactions and the role of host blood meal in pathogen transmission

在美国，绝大多数影响人类的传染病都是节肢动物传播的，比如蚊子和扁虱。这些节肢动物体内通常含有大量的细菌，这些细菌也被称为微生物。我们对这些微生物在传播节肢动物疾病中的作用，或者它们是否以及如何相互作用知之甚少。这项研究使用了西方黑腿壁虱，研究了壁虱体内微生物的内部收集是如何发展的，以及这些微生物的类型或数量是否对这些节肢动物将致病细菌传播给新宿主的能力产生了负面或积极的影响。为了了解一组微生物是如何发育的，扁虱将被允许以不同的宿主为食，如蜥蜴或老鼠。然后，研究人员将检查这些扁虱体内不同的微生物集合如何影响它们将导致莱姆病的细菌从一个宿主传播到另一个宿主的能力。更好地了解微生物在疾病传播中所起的作用，将有助于开发管理疾病风险和保护野生动物的新视角和新战略。该项目还将培养本科生和研究生，并将开发公民科学机会。公民科学机会将包括开发一款手机应用程序，允许公众向科学家提供壁虱分布和接触数据，同时提高公众对壁虱传播疾病的认识。这项研究具有明显的公共卫生影响，因为莱姆病是美国报告最多的媒介传播疾病。疾病生态学领域中一个新出现的问题是，潜在媒介的微生物群落是否能够促进或抑制病原体的传播。这项研究将重点放在美国西部莱姆病的主要媒介--太平洋硬蜱身上，并将采用实验室和田间实验相结合的方式，研究摄食不同宿主物种如何影响硬蜱微生物群的发育，并影响肠道发育和微生物传播效率。为了确定宿主血粉对扁虱微生物群和中肠结构的作用，将使用下一代细菌微生物组的16S rRNA测序和荧光原位杂交(FISH)技术。为了确定宿主血餐史对伯氏疏螺旋体获取和传播的影响，将使用定量聚合酶链式反应、微生物组分析和可视化技术。通过实验操作和评估构成扁虱微生物群的因素，并通过了解微生物在病原体传播中所起的机制作用，这项研究将促进我们对微生物-媒介相关群落是如何形成的，以及这些关系如何更广泛地影响疾病生态的理解。

Arthropods, like mosquitoes and ticks, are responsible for transmitting the vast majority of infectious diseases that affect humans in the United States. These arthropods often contain within them numerous bacteria that are also called microbes. We know very little about the role of these microbes in disease transmitting arthropods or if and how they interact with one another. Using the western black-legged tick, this study examines how the internal collection of microbes develops within the tick and whether the types or numbers of these microbes negatively or positively influence the ability of these arthropods to transmit disease causing bacteria to new hosts. To understand how a collection of microbes develops, ticks will be allowed to feed on different hosts, such as lizards or mice. Then researchers will examine how the different microbe collections within these ticks influence their ability to transmit the bacteria that causes Lyme disease from one host to another. An improved understanding of the role microbes play in the transmission of diseases will allow for the development of new perspectives and strategies for managing disease risk and conserving wildlife. This project also will train undergraduate and graduate students and will develop citizen science opportunities. The citizen science opportunities will include development of a mobile phone app to allow the public to provide scientists with tick distribution and encounter data while increasing the public's awareness of tick transmitted illnesses. This study has clear public health implications as Lyme disease is the most reported vector-borne disease in the United States. An emerging question in the field of disease ecology is whether the microbial community of potential vectors can facilitate or inhibit the transmission of pathogens. This study will focus on the tick, Ixodes pacificus, which is the main vector of Lyme disease in the western United States, and will use a combination of lab and field experiments to examine how feeding on different host species affects the development of the tick microbiome and influences gut development and microbe transmission efficiency. To determine the role of host blood meal on the tick's microbiome and midgut structure, next generation 16S rRNA sequencing of the bacterial microbiome and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques will be used. To determine the effect of host blood meal history on the acquisition and transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi, quantitative PCR, microbiome analyses, and visualization techniques will be used. By experimentally manipulating and evaluating the factors that structure tick microbiomes and by understanding the mechanistic role that microbes play in pathogen transmission, this study will advance our understanding of how microbe-vector-associated communities are shaped and how these relationships influence disease ecology more broadly.