Collaborative Research: Dimensions US-Sao Paulo: Integrating phylogeny, genetics, and chemical ecology to unravel the tangled bank of the multipartite fungus-farming ant symbiosis

合作研究：维度美国-圣保罗：整合系统发育学、遗传学和化学生态学，解开多方真菌养殖蚂蚁共生关系的错综复杂的银行

• 批准号: 1927155
• 负责人: Cameron Currie
• 金额: $ 38.95万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1927155&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Dimensions; US; Sao

Biodiversity is the source of many important foods, medicines, and other products essential to human well-being. Yet, a great deal of biodiversity remains hidden from view. We only have a superficial understanding of how biodiversity originates, persists, and responds to a changing environment. Many species are interconnected, which makes biodiversity complex to understand. This research studies this interconnectedness, especially the interactions between individual organisms. This research focuses on a group of tropical ants and the fungus that they cultivate in their nests. This includes 245 species of ants, their cultivated fungi, and other microbial organisms. The goal is to uncover the hidden diversity of organisms within the ant-fungus symbiosis. Discoveries from this research will reveal new diversity, especially diversity arising from hidden interactions. These discoveries will also potentially be developed into new technologies and medicines that benefit human society. This project will train a new generation of biodiversity scientists as students. The project will enhance international scientific collaboration with Brazil to tackle global challenges. Finally, the general public will be engaged through innovative communications making use of natural history museums.The project will sample leafcutter ants and nests widely across Brazil. These samples will focus on groups of organisms where hidden diversity is expected. This includes the cultivated fungi, parasites that attack these fungi, and bacteria that function in garden defense. Both phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity will be assessed for all these samples. Then a coupled comprehensive gene expression and natural product profiling approach will be applied. This will allow the characterization of genetic diversity as well as the functions of the ants' garden microbiomes. Finally, the project will use cutting-edge techniques in natural products research. The functional aspect involves characterizing and understanding the chemical compounds used to signal, harm, help, and interact with the various interacting organisms. This project benefits from the wide-ranging expertise of the US-Brazil investigative team, whose research spans insect and fungal taxonomy, phylogenetics, genomics, and natural products chemistry.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.

生物多样性是许多对人类福祉至关重要的食品、药品和其他产品的来源。然而，大量的生物多样性仍然隐藏在人们的视野之外。我们对生物多样性的起源、持续和对环境变化的反应只有肤浅的了解。许多物种是相互联系的，这使得生物多样性的理解变得复杂。这项研究研究这种相互联系，特别是个体生物之间的相互作用。这项研究的重点是一群热带蚂蚁和它们在巢穴中培育的真菌。这包括245种蚂蚁、它们培育的真菌和其他微生物。目标是揭示在抗真菌共生关系中隐藏的生物多样性。这项研究的发现将揭示新的多样性，特别是隐藏相互作用产生的多样性。这些发现也有可能发展成为造福人类社会的新技术和新药物。该项目将培养新一代生物多样性科学家作为学生。该项目将加强与巴西的国际科学合作，以应对全球挑战。最后，公众将通过利用自然历史博物馆的创新交流参与进来。该项目将对巴西各地的切叶蚁及其巢穴进行取样。这些样本将集中在期望隐藏多样性的生物群体上。这包括培养的真菌，攻击这些真菌的寄生虫，以及在花园防御中起作用的细菌。将对所有这些样本进行系统发育和分类多样性评估。然后将采用综合基因表达和天然产物分析相结合的方法。这将使遗传多样性的特征以及蚂蚁花园微生物群的功能成为可能。最后，该项目将使用天然产物研究的尖端技术。功能方面包括表征和理解用于信号、伤害、帮助和与各种相互作用的生物体相互作用的化合物。该项目得益于美国-巴西调查小组的广泛专业知识，他们的研究涵盖昆虫和真菌分类学、系统发育学、基因组学和天然产物化学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

项目成果

Bacteria Contribute to Plant Secondary Compound Degradation in a Generalist Herbivore System

• DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02146-20
• 发表时间: 2020-09-01
• 期刊: MBIO
• 影响因子: 6.4
• 作者: Francoeur, Charlotte B.;Khadempour, Lily;Currie, Cameron R.
• 通讯作者: Currie, Cameron R.

Burkholderia from Fungus Gardens of Fungus-Growing Ants Produces Antifungals That Inhibit the Specialized Parasite Escovopsis

• DOI: 10.1128/aem.00178-21
• 发表时间: 2021-07-01
• 期刊: APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 4.4
• 作者: Francoeur, Charlotte B.;May, Daniel S.;Currie, Cameron R.
• 通讯作者: Currie, Cameron R.