RoL: NSFDEB-BSF: Studying the evolution of the antiviral pathway in a cnidarian model interacting with diverse viral communities

RoL：NSFDEB-BSF：研究与不同病毒群落相互作用的刺胞动物模型中抗病毒途径的进化

• 批准号: 2044826
• 负责人: Adam Reitzel
• 金额: $ 81.8万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• 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: 2021-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2044826&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RoL; NSFDEB; BSF; Studying; evolution

Viruses and the immune systems of animals evolve in response to each other. Animals have various molecular mechanisms for detection and destruction of diverse viruses. Despite viruses exerting tremendous costs to all animals, how invertebrates, particularly marine species, respond and adapt to virus communities has received more limited research. The limitations for understanding the impact of viral communities on marine invertebrates results from an incomplete understanding of how viruses vary over different populations as well as the precise mechanisms of the immune system that the host utilizes in controlling their viral community. The research team will utilize a sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) to study host immunity in the laboratory and the field to characterize the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of this symbiosis. This project will provide a synergistic international collaboration with Dr. Yehu Moran (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) to connect the ecology and symbioses of cnidarians with the molecular mechanisms of antiviral responses. This research will provide mentoring and training for a postdoctoral fellow as well as graduate and undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Additional research and educational opportunities will be provided through expansion of a SEA-PHAGES course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) and outreach through a new Center for Microbial Genomics at UNC Charlotte. Knowledge of the environmental, genetic, and molecular factors involved in modulating expression of antiviral pathways is essential to understand and predict how any host species will respond to diverse viral communities. The integrative research approach in this project will determine how shifts in the biotic and abiotic features of habitats correlate with changes in the expression of the antiviral response for a cnidarian host. The research team will use comparative genomics to detect signatures of positive selection by comparing the viromes and transcriptomes of populations of Nematostella vectensis across its native and introduced geographic range in North America. They will then use a combination of mesocosm and laboratory studies to quantify the extent of local adaptation of the anemone to specific viral communities through a combination of organismal and gene expression studies. They will employ a combination of transgenic approaches combined with laboratory and mesocosm studies to characterize how individual components of the antiviral response respond and mediate exposure to a diverse viral community. Nematostella vectensis has been utilized as a model for the ecological and evolutionary genomics by the international research team to understand the genetic diversity of this invertebrate, the role for nucleotide variation in local adaptation, and the function of focal genes through transgenic approaches. This project is expected to have a significant impact by identifying the evolution of these antiviral mechanisms in populations with exposure to different viruses and the mechanisms for viral detection and destruction in heterogeneous habitats that are vulnerable to the ongoing climate change.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.

病毒和动物的免疫系统在相互反应中进化。动物有各种分子机制来检测和破坏各种病毒。尽管病毒给所有动物带来了巨大的损失，但无脊椎动物，特别是海洋物种，如何应对和适应病毒群落的研究却比较有限。了解病毒群落对海洋无脊椎动物的影响的局限性是由于对病毒在不同种群中的变化以及宿主控制病毒群落的免疫系统的精确机制的不完全理解。研究小组将利用海葵（Nematostella vectensis）在实验室和野外研究宿主免疫力，以表征这种共生关系的生态和进化动力学。该项目将提供与Yehu Moran博士（以色列耶路撒冷）的协同国际合作，将刺胞动物的生态和共生与抗病毒反应的分子机制联系起来。这项研究将为夏洛特的北卡罗来纳州大学的博士后研究员以及研究生和本科生提供指导和培训。将通过扩大基于SEA-PHAGES课程的本科生研究经验（CURE）和通过位于夏洛特夏洛特的新微生物基因组学中心进行外展来提供更多的研究和教育机会。 了解参与调节抗病毒途径表达的环境、遗传和分子因素对于理解和预测任何宿主物种将如何对不同的病毒群落作出反应至关重要。本项目的综合研究方法将确定栖息地的生物和非生物特征的变化如何与刺胞动物宿主抗病毒反应的表达变化相关。研究小组将利用比较基因组学，通过比较北美本土和引进地理范围内的Vectensis种群的病毒组和转录组来检测正选择的特征。然后，他们将使用围隔和实验室研究的组合，通过有机体和基因表达研究的组合，量化海葵对特定病毒群落的局部适应程度。他们将采用转基因方法与实验室和围隔研究相结合的方法，以表征抗病毒反应的各个组成部分如何响应并介导暴露于不同的病毒群落。 Nematostella vectensis已被国际研究团队用作生态和进化基因组学的模型，以了解这种无脊椎动物的遗传多样性，核苷酸变异在局部适应中的作用，以及通过转基因方法了解焦点基因的功能。该项目预计将产生重大影响，通过确定这些抗病毒机制的演变在人群中暴露于不同的病毒和机制的病毒检测和破坏的异质栖息地，是脆弱的持续气候变化。该奖项反映了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。