CAREER: VIRAL SYMBIOSIS AND THE EVOLUTION OF BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY

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Microbes and their hosts engage in complex interactions that have influenced the evolution and success of almost all life on earth. Interactions can be both beneficial (symbiotic) or harmful (pathogenic). Understanding how different types of interactions are formed will advance understanding of animal immunity and disease. This award investigates how the same virus is beneficial to wasps but causes harm to flies. This award will help in improving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and educator development. Researchers will work closely with teachers in local schools and provide a new resource for their professional development. Laboratory research opportunities will be provided to diverse students and results shared with local students and the public. The evolution of symbiosis between two entities from completely different domains of life is a phenomenon of major importance in the evolution of life on this planet. Parasitoid wasps are insects whose young feed upon and kill other insects and are a "natural laboratory" for the acquisition of symbionts from several different types of viruses. Symbiotic viruses deliver to hosts genes that directly benefit developing wasps by suppressing the host's immune response against the wasps. There is a need to examine more examples of this phenomenon in nature. Studying genetic and phenotypic bases of independent pathogen-to-symbiont transitions will reveal key changes that enable successful and stable beneficial viral symbioses of animals. This project will identify common threads and key differences in the convergent evolution of viruses that have transitioned to a beneficial role. The research focus is on DlEPV, the entomopoxvirus carried by the wasp species Diachasmimorpha longicaudata, which is pathogenic in flies, yet has no negative effects upon wasps. This research will combine experimental and genomics techniques to 1) characterize DlEPV's pathogenic mechanisms between wasps and flies, 2) determine mechanisms that control viral replication in wasps, and 3) determine mechanisms that promote viral parasitism in flies. The educational and outreach components of the award will improve science education and increase scientific literacy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.