NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020: From Nanoscale to Global Scale: Viruses as Drivers of Community Interactions and Ecosystem Function

这一行动为NSF 2020财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。感染细菌的病毒可以通过改变细菌处理这些营养物质(例如碳和氮)以及与其他有机体相互作用的方式，深刻地影响地球上的营养物质和能量的流动。然而，缺乏关于将这些微观相互作用与对全球进程的影响联系起来的途径的信息。该项目将使用生活在肉食性紫色猪笼草中的物种来研究病毒改变细菌在生态系统中作用的机制。从佛罗里达州北部到加拿大南部，这种植物的原生范围很广，这也为研究病毒及其相关细菌群落在大陆范围内的分布模式提供了机会。细菌是全球营养循环、社会和经济重要行业(如废水处理和乳制品生产)以及人类、农业和生态健康的关键组成部分。这项研究将填补在理解病毒在这些过程中所起作用方面的关键知识空白。该研究员将与博伊西州立大学和其他项目合作，为本科生和研究生提供培训，并为爱达荷州的教育工作者和年轻女性开发微生物生态学研讨会。该项目将研究噬菌体改变微生物新陈代谢的三种机制：宿主死亡，前驱体的非致命性效应，以及宿主与食草动物的相互作用。这项研究将在两个阶段整合观测、实验和计算方法。首先，这位研究员将对噬菌体的丰度和多样性以及它们的宿主群落进行生物地理调查，横跨紫色猪笼草的原生范围。这位研究员将把这些群落与瑞士发现的非本土猪笼草群落进行比较，瑞士猪笼草缺乏北美猪笼草中常见的双翅目幼虫。病毒和宿主元基因组将被用来产生分类分配，创建细菌元基因组的代谢谱，并预测病毒元基因组的宿主身份。其次，该研究员将进行现场和实验室实验，通过Biolog EcoPlates测试寄主死亡、原噬菌体以及细菌和草食动物(原生生物)之间变化的相互作用如何影响广泛的微生物代谢活动，使用MicroResp系统测试呼吸率，以及使用酶分析测试对昆虫分解至关重要的代谢过程(例如几丁质酶和蛋白酶)。该研究员将与爱达荷州STEM行动中心合作，为爱达荷州的教育工作者开发一个微生物生态学研讨会，并通过爱达荷州的发现中心在All Girls Coding Camp教授编码和批判性思维技能课程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Viruses that infect bacteria can profoundly affect the flow of nutrients and energy across the planet by changing the ways that bacteria process these nutrients (e.g. carbon and nitrogen) and interact with other organisms. However, there is a lack information about the pathways that connect these microscopic interactions to impacts on global processes. This project will use species that live inside carnivorous purple pitcher plants to study the mechanisms through which viruses alter the role of bacteria in the ecosystem. The plant’s large native range, from northern Florida to southern Canada, also provides an opportunity to study the distribution patterns of viruses and their associated bacterial communities on a continental scale. Bacteria are a key component of global nutrient cycles, socially and economically important industries (e.g. waste-water treatment and dairy production), as well as human, agricultural, and ecological health. This research will fill critical knowledge gaps in understanding the role that viruses play in these processes. The fellow will work with Boise State University and other programs to provide training for undergraduate and graduate students and develop workshops in microbial ecology for Idaho educators and coding for young women.This project will investigate three mechanisms through which bacteriophages alter microbial metabolisms: host death, nonlethal effects of prophage, and host interactions with grazers. The study will integrate observational, experimental, and computational approaches throughout two phases. First, the fellow will conduct a biogeographic survey of phage abundance and diversity, as well as that of their host communities, spanning the purple pitcher plant’s native range. The fellow will compare these communities with communities from non-native pitcher plants found in Switzerland, which lack dipteran larvae commonly found in North American pitcher plants. Viral and host metagenomes will be used to generate taxonomic assignments, create metabolic profiles for bacterial metagenomes, and predict host identity for viral metagenomes. Second, the fellow will perform field and laboratory experiments to test how host death, prophage, and altered interactions between bacteria and grazers (protists) affect broad microbial metabolic activity using Biolog EcoPlates, respirations rates using the MicroResp system, and metabolic processes important for insect decomposition (e.g. chitinases and proteases) using enzyme assays. The fellow will work with the Idaho STEM Action Center to develop a workshop on microbial ecology for Idaho educators and instruct courses on coding and critical-thinking skills at the All Girls Coding Camp through the Discovery Center of Idaho.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.