BII-DESIGN: Defining the point of no return in microbe mediated symbioses

微生物与植物或微生物与动物之间的相互作用是常见的。在许多情况下，双方都从这些互动中受益，以至于他们彼此依赖，随着时间的推移，他们的互动变得不可逆转。该项目将汇集使用一系列调查工具的研究人员（如测量营养交换，信号和化学通讯，基因组方法和数学建模）在一系列系统中（包括植物和真菌，真菌生长蚂蚁，具有内共生肠道微生物的蟑螂，食肉猪笼草），以便他们能够为开发一个预测不归点的模型奠定基础：在这个点上，系统中的个体物种失去了独立于它们的伙伴发挥作用的能力。通过在这些系统的多样性中寻找联系，我们希望更好地了解导致伴侣依赖发展的因素。 该项目的一个主要成果将是在三个层次上制定培训方案。将为哥伦布的麦德龙高中的学生开展外联和培训。这所多元化的城市学校吸引了对STEM领域感兴趣的优秀高中生。培训活动将包括附属实验室的夏季研究项目。为俄亥俄州立大学的本科生和研究生提供培训，并举办两个研讨会，一个是为俄亥俄州地区大学的教师和学生举办的，另一个是为HBCUs和HSI的人举办的。该项目将开发一个生物集成研究所的应用程序，旨在确定推动微生物共生体超越伙伴依赖点的因素。当共生体需要与伴侣建立联系以成功繁殖时，就会发生伴侣依赖，这代表了一个主要的进化转变。共生体是一种复杂的适应系统，其中的模式来自伙伴之间的相互作用和反应以及伙伴与其他生物体之间的相互作用。共生体的发展依赖于生物体水平以下的通信，并且通常由合作伙伴内部的分子和细胞反应驱动，但协会的优势可能与社区和生态系统的相互作用有关，合作伙伴适应和响应的过程受到进化力量的控制。了解和预测的依赖模式和其他现象内部和跨类群需要了解这些系统的进化和生态动力学。虽然这个设计方案的重点是过程，而不是产品，我们希望产生综合论文，将跨尺度的连接，并为未来的理论发展奠定基础，并在实证系统的工作。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Interactions between microbes and plants or microbes and animals are common. In many cases, both parties benefit from these interactions to the extent that they are dependent on one another and over time their interaction becomes irreversible. This project will bring together researchers working with a range of investigatory tools (such as measuring nutrient exchange, signaling and chemical communication, genomic approach, and mathematical modeling) in a range of systems (including plants and mycorrizal fungi, fungus growing ants, cockroaches with endosymbiontic gut microbes, carnivorous pitcher plants) so that they can lay the groundwork for developing a model that predicts the point of no return: that point at which the individual species in the system lose the ability to function independent of their partner. By seeking connections across the diversity of these systems, we hope to better understand the factors that lead to the development of partner dependence. A major outcome of the project will be the development of training programs at three levels. Outreach and training will be developed for students at Metro High School in Columbus. This diverse urban school serves as a magnet for talented high school students with an interested in STEM fields. Training activities will include summer research projects in affiliated labs. A training program for undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio State University, and hold two workshops, one for faculty and students at regional universities in Ohio and one for people from HBCUs and HSIs. This project will develop a Biology Integration Institute application that seeks to determine the factors that push microbial symbioses past the point of no return to partner dependence. Partner dependence, which occurs when a symbiont requires an association with a partner for successful reproduction, represents a major evolutionary transition. Symbioses are complex adaptive systems, in which patterns emerge from the interactions and responses among partners and interactions between the partnership and other organisms. The development of symbioses relies on communication below the level of the organism and is often driven by molecules and cellular responses within the partners, but the advantages of the association may relate to community and ecosystem interactions, and the processes by which the partners adapt and respond are governed by evolutionary forces. Understanding and predicting the patterns of dependence and other phenomena within and across taxa requires understanding the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of these systems. While this Design proposal is focused on process instead of products, we expect to produce synthetic papers that will make connections across scales and lay the groundwork for future theory development and work in empirical systems.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.