EF: Collaborative Research: MTM 2: Marine Invertebrate Microbiome Assembly, Diversification, and Coevolution

EF：合作研究：MTM 2：海洋无脊椎动物微生物组组装、多样化和共同进化

• 批准号: 2025009
• 负责人: Kent Hatch
• 金额: $ 120.29万
• 依托单位: Long Island University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2025009&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EF; Collaborative; Research; MTM; Marine

Microbes associated with marine invertebrates are of broad interest for establishing the rules of life for host-microbe associations. Although some marine invertebrates host only one or two types of microbes, others host thousands of different kinds of microbes. The project goal is to understand how and why particular microbes are hosted by invertebrates; whether the diversity of these microorganisms is related to the diversity of their hosts; and how these associations change over evolutionary time. The investigators are training graduate, undergraduate, and high school students how to assess microbiome diversity; how to use novel software to search, categorize, and compile data from DNA sequence archives; and how to identify and classify marine invertebrates. They are integrating graduate students and undergraduate students in the development of a high-school-based program to mentor students in the assessment of marine invertebrate biodiversity, training the next generation of scientists in invertebrate biology, host-microbe ecology, and evolutionary data analyses. In addition, research scientists are being trained to use novel data mining and compilation software to address unexplored questions in host-microbe evolution.This project is investigating three ecological and evolutionary processes that structure the biodiversity of microbiomes: assembly, diversification, and coevolution. While previous studies have focused on the host-specificity of microbiomes, the project shifts the perspective from host evolution to microbial evolution. The project is developing models of host-symbiont interactions that function across multiple spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. By incorporating theories from evolutionary ecology and metacommunity ecology, the investigators are assessing the relative importance of environmental filtering, host-associated selection pressures, spatial connectivity, microbial competition, cospeciation, and host switching on the assembly of microbiomes. Through the use of phylogenetic comparative methods, the project is testing whether different clades of symbionts and clades of hosts respond to these forces differently. The investigators are examining how microbiomes both impact and respond to the process of host speciation in sympatry and allopatry. To accomplish these goals, novel software and evolutionary models are being developed to support large-scale analyses of microbial diversification and colonization of eukaryotic hosts. These models are being experimentally tested by using a replicated series of settlement structures to examine the assembly of sessile marine invertebrate communities and the assembly of their associated microbiomes. In addition, marine sponges are being used as model organisms to contrast allopatric and sympatric microbiome divergence over evolutionary time. These investigations are enhancing our broader understanding of the roles of microbiomes in sustaining biodiversity.This project is funded by the Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms Program, administered as part of NSF's Ten Big Ideas through the Division of Emerging Frontiers in the Directorate for Biological Sciences.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.

与海洋无脊椎动物相关的微生物对于建立宿主微生物协会的生活规则具有广泛的意义。虽然一些海洋无脊椎动物只携带一种或两种微生物，但其他海洋无脊椎动物则携带数千种不同的微生物。该项目的目标是了解特定微生物是如何以及为什么由无脊椎动物宿主的;这些微生物的多样性是否与其宿主的多样性有关;以及这些关联如何随着进化时间而变化。研究人员正在培训研究生、本科生和高中生如何评估微生物组多样性;如何使用新型软件从DNA序列档案中搜索、分类和编辑数据;以及如何识别和分类海洋无脊椎动物。他们正在整合研究生和本科生在高中为基础的计划，指导学生在海洋无脊椎动物生物多样性的评估，培训下一代科学家在无脊椎动物生物学，宿主微生物生态学和进化数据分析的发展。此外，研究科学家正在接受培训，使用新的数据挖掘和编译软件来解决宿主微生物进化中未探索的问题。该项目正在研究构成微生物生物多样性的三个生态和进化过程：组装，多样化和共同进化。虽然以前的研究集中在微生物组的宿主特异性上，但该项目将视角从宿主进化转移到微生物进化。该项目正在开发宿主-共生体相互作用的模型，这些模型在多个空间、时间和分类尺度上发挥作用。通过结合进化生态学和代谢生态学的理论，研究人员正在评估环境过滤，宿主相关选择压力，空间连通性，微生物竞争，共同物种形成和宿主切换对微生物组组装的相对重要性。通过使用系统发育比较方法，该项目正在测试不同的共生体分支和宿主分支是否对这些力量有不同的反应。研究人员正在研究微生物组如何影响和响应同域和异地的宿主物种形成过程。为了实现这些目标，正在开发新的软件和进化模型，以支持大规模分析微生物的多样化和真核宿主的定殖。 这些模型正在通过使用一系列重复的定居结构进行实验测试，以检查固着海洋无脊椎动物群落的组装及其相关微生物的组装。此外，海绵被用作模式生物，以对比异域和同域微生物组在进化过程中的差异。这些调查正在增强我们对微生物组在维持生物多样性方面的作用的更广泛的理解。该项目由理解生命规则资助：微生物组理论和机制计划，作为NSF十大创意的一部分，通过生物科学理事会新兴前沿部门进行管理。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。