Collaborative Research: BEE: A dormancy refuge in host-parasite eco-evolutionary dynamics

了解致病寄生虫的出现和传播是进化生物学的一个重要目标。众所周知，空间传播可以保护宿主免受感染，但许多生物也可以通过休眠过程及时传播。休眠反映了个体进入代谢活动减少的可逆状态的能力。这是一种在生命之树中进化了无数次的策略，但在微生物中特别普遍。虽然众所周知，休眠使种群能够在面临热应激和饥饿等恶劣环境条件下持续存在，但对休眠是否可以提供保护以免受寄生虫感染知之甚少。该项目将通过整合数学理论，实验室进化实验和对从世界各地的一系列生态系统收集的基因组数据进行生物信息学分析来推进生物学的多个领域。该项目将通过K-5课堂活动和公共科学节展览相结合，吸引小学生和公众。教育影响包括让来自不同年龄和背景的学生沉浸在教学模块和研究经验中，这些模块和研究经验使用物理和计算机模型来强调微生物相互作用的规模和性质。该研究项目的中心前提是休眠是一种重要的生活史策略，它改变了宿主-寄生虫相互作用的进化生态学。该项目解决了这一前提，首先，通过发展理论来评估宿主-寄生虫动态引起的波动如何影响休眠的出现和维持，超出了经典的预期。第二，用细菌-病毒进行的实验性进化试验（即，噬菌体）系统将用于测试关于如何在休眠库中保存遗传和表型多样性的预测（即，种子库）影响宿主-寄生虫共同进化的速率和模式。最后，结合信息学和直接的分子操作将被用来测试寄生虫的能力，以克服休眠避难所通过修改主机的行为，通过一种新的军备竞赛策略。该研究将生命史和种群生物学的主要主题联系起来，将推进休眠研究及其如何改变宿主-寄生虫相互作用的长期生态和进化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

Understanding the emergence and spread of disease-causing parasites is an essential goal of evolutionary biology. It is well recognized that dispersal in space can provide protection for hosts against infection, however many organisms can also disperse in time through the process of dormancy. Dormancy reflects the ability of an individual to enter a reversible state of reduced metabolic activity. It is a strategy that has evolved numerous times across the tree of life, but is particularly prevalent among microorganisms. While it is well known that dormancy allows populations to persist in the face of harsh environmental conditions like thermal stress and starvation, far less is known about whether dormancy can provide protection against infection by parasites. This project will advance multiple fields of biology through the integration of mathematical theory, laboratory evolution experiments, and bioinformatic analysis of genomic data collected from a range of ecosystems around the world. The project will engage elementary students and the public through a combination of K-5 classroom activities and an exhibit in a public science festival. Educational impacts include immersing students from diverse ages and backgrounds in teaching modules and research experiences that use physical and computer models to emphasize the scale and nature of microbial interactions.The central premise of the research project is that dormancy is an important life-history strategy that modifies the evolutionary ecology of host-parasite interactions. The project addresses this premise, first, by developing theory to assess how fluctuations caused by host-parasite dynamics influence the emergence and maintenance of dormancy beyond classical expectations. Second, experimental evolution trials with a bacteria-virus (i.e., phage) system will be used to test predictions about how the preservation of genetic and phenotypic diversity in dormant pools (i.e., seed banks) affects the rate and mode of host-parasite coevolution. Finally, a combination of informatics and direct molecular manipulation will be used to test the ability of parasites to overcome a dormancy refuge by modifying host behavior via a novel arms-race strategy. Bridging major themes in life history and population biology, the research will advance the study of dormancy and how it alters the long-term ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions.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.