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Collaborative Research: Host ocular microbiome and pathogen dynamics: from individual to population-level effects in a songbird

合作研究：宿主眼部微生物组和病原体动态：鸣禽从个体到群体水平的影响

基本信息

批准号：
1755051
负责人：
Dana Hawley
金额：
$ 62.52万
依托单位：
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-08-01 至 2023-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1755051&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Host ocular microbiome

项目摘要

Animals harbor many microbes that serve key beneficial roles for their hosts, including protection from disease. While the beneficial roles of many microbes are well established, it is not yet known how these benefits scale up to an entire population and influence disease outbreaks in populations. This award focuses on a contagious 'pink- eye' disease of a common songbird, the house finch. Beneficial bacteria in the eyes of finches can protect birds from developing severe 'pink-eye'. This project examines how the dose of infection impacts the ability of beneficial bacteria to protect birds against disease, and whether beneficial bacteria on the eye can prevent or slow down the spread of this highly contagious disease within a flock of birds. Findings of this research will have important implications for understanding infectious disease outbreaks in wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Investigators will engage undergraduate and graduate students in the use of new genomics tools to identify beneficial microbes. Using this study system and others as examples, project personnel will work with the Science Museum of Western Virginia to design a permanent, interactive 'Friendly Microbes' exhibit that illustrates the many ways that microbes benefit their hosts. Graduate students at Virginia Tech will learn how to better communicate science by assisting with the exhibit design and summer workshops associated with the exhibit. How the microbiome modulates population-level disease spread depends on how symbionts function in host defense across the natural range of infectious doses, as well as how both 'donating' and 'receiving' the pathogen during transmission is modified by symbionts. This award investigates individual to population-level effects of the ocular microbiome on disease dynamics using a tractable wildlife disease system: a recently emerged conjunctival disease of house finches. Using a suite of mechanistic tools and experimental approaches, this project will: 1) test how pathogen colonization dose mediates the protective role of the resident ocular microbiome for individual finches; 2) determine how the ocular microbiome influences the likelihood of donating versus receiving a conjunctival pathogen during pairwise transmission; and 3) quantify the epidemiological impact of the host ocular microbiome on flock-level infectious disease dynamics. Researchers will examine how microbial symbionts alter both host and pathogen phenotypes relevant for transmission and reveal mechanisms of symbiont-pathogen-host interactions that are most likely to influence population-level disease dynamics. The award will provide training to undergraduate and graduate students in population-wide microbiome research as well as scientific communication. Researchers will develop a new, permanent exhibit at the local museum on the beneficial role of microbes and host workshops to promote scientific literacy on this topic.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.

动物体内有许多微生物，它们对宿主起到关键的有益作用，包括保护宿主免受疾病的侵害。虽然许多微生物的有益作用已经得到了很好的证实，但目前还不知道这些益处如何扩大到整个人群并影响人群中的疾病爆发。这个奖项的重点是一种常见的鸣禽--家雀--的传染性“红眼病"。雀眼睛中的有益细菌可以保护鸟类免受严重的“红眼病”。该项目研究了感染剂量如何影响有益细菌保护鸟类免受疾病侵害的能力，以及眼睛上的有益细菌是否可以预防或减缓这种高度传染性疾病在鸟类中的传播。这项研究的发现将对了解野生动物、家畜和人类的传染病暴发具有重要意义。研究人员将让本科生和研究生参与使用新的基因组学工具来识别有益微生物。以这个研究系统和其他系统为例，项目人员将与西弗吉尼亚科学博物馆合作，设计一个永久的、互动的“友好微生物”展览，展示微生物使宿主受益的多种方式。弗吉尼亚理工大学的研究生将学习如何通过协助展览设计和与展览相关的夏季研讨会来更好地交流科学。微生物组如何调节人群水平的疾病传播取决于共生体在感染剂量的自然范围内如何在宿主防御中发挥作用，以及共生体如何在传播过程中修改“捐赠”和“接收”病原体。该奖项使用易于处理的野生动物疾病系统调查了眼部微生物组对疾病动态的个体到群体水平的影响：最近出现的家雀结膜疾病。使用一套机械工具和实验方法，该项目将：1）测试病原体定殖剂量如何介导个体雀的常驻眼部微生物组的保护作用; 2）确定眼部微生物组如何影响成对传播期间捐赠与接收结膜病原体的可能性;和3）量化宿主眼部微生物组对鸡群水平传染病动态的流行病学影响。研究人员将研究微生物共生体如何改变与传播相关的宿主和病原体表型，并揭示共生体-病原体-宿主相互作用的机制，这些机制最有可能影响群体水平的疾病动态。该奖项将为本科生和研究生提供全人群微生物组研究以及科学交流方面的培训。研究人员将在当地博物馆开发一个新的永久性展览，介绍微生物的有益作用，并举办研讨会，以促进有关这一主题的科学素养。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。