CAREER: The success of viral endosymbionts within and between host populations

这个项目有三个主要目标。首先，它试图更好地了解病毒如何塑造其宿主的生物学和进化，而不是通常认为的病毒是使其宿主严重患病的实体。新的证据表明，病毒和形成微生物群的细菌一样，在所有活着的有机体中无处不在。除了在宿主的生活中发挥重要作用外，这些病毒中的一些可能被用来对抗由蚊子和其他媒介传播的疾病。其次，该项目寻求让初出茅庐的科学家掌握在生物学大数据新时代茁壮成长所需的计算技能。这将提高这些人的竞争力，使他们掌握在生物经济中工作的越来越基本的技能。这种教育的形式将是对个别学生进行培训、现有的研究生课程、采取循证措施促进女学生参与和取得成功的新本科课程，以及三个年度讲习班。第三，通过与公民科学和科学推广方面的专家合作，该项目将使公众参与众包样本收集工作。公民科学家不仅将提供宝贵的样本和数据，否则将无法获得，而且还将对与病毒和科学本质有关的重要科学概念进行自己的调查。我们将开发的教育资源将适合在课堂或家庭中使用。细菌内共生体可以深刻地塑造其宿主的进化和生态。NSF的一个目标是支持基础研究，而这项提案通过检查病毒内共生体达到了这一目标。来自元基因组学的新证据表明，存在一组以前未被认识到的病毒，它们具有相似的特性，同样常见，并且可能在宿主的生活中发挥重要作用。这项拟议的研究集中在其中一种病毒上，即一种非常成功的黑腹果蝇“病毒内共生体”，称为加尔布特病毒。加尔布特病毒在这些果蝇的野生种群中普遍存在，并证明了与垂直传播的共生体有关的两个悖论。首先，尽管有效的双亲垂直传播，建模表明这应该会将感染驱动到固定，但只有60%的个体苍蝇被感染。其次，尽管似乎依赖垂直传播，但有大量证据表明，加尔布特病毒很容易进入新的宿主物种。拟议的实验结合了遗传学、基因组学、感染实验和众包现场采样，以探索这种令人着迷的病毒在宿主群体内部和之间的动态。这将有助于更准确地了解病毒作为急性病原体之外的进化和生态影响。更广泛的影响包括对研究生和本科生的培训、3个年度讲习班(2个现有讲习班和1个新讲习班)以及一个新的计算微生物学本科课程，该课程将以循证方式实施，以鼓励女学生参与和取得成功。拟议的以公民科学为基础的样本收集和推广计划将授权志愿者对科学的性质和实践进行自己的调查。这一奖项反映了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 project has three main goals. First, it seeks to better understand how viruses shape the biology and evolution of their hosts beyond the typical view that viruses are entities that make their hosts acutely sick. New evidence has revealed that viruses are just as ubiquitous in all living organisms as are the bacteria that form the microbiome. In addition to playing important roles in the lives of their hosts, some of these viruses might be co-opted to combat diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and other vectors. Second, this project seeks to equip budding scientists with the computational skills they will need to thrive in a new era of big data in Biology. This will increase the competitiveness of these individuals by arming them with increasingly essential skills for working in the bioeconomy. This education will take the form of training of individual students, an existing graduate course, a new undergraduate course that takes evidence-based measures to foster participation and success of female students, and three annual workshops. Third, through collaboration with experts in citizen science and science outreach, this project will engage the public in a crowdsourced sample collection effort. The citizen scientists will not only contribute valuable samples and data that would be otherwise unobtainable but will also make their own inquiries about important scientific concepts relating to viruses and the nature of science. The educational resources we will develop will be suitable for use in classrooms or homes.Bacterial endosymbionts can shape the evolution and ecology of their hosts in profound ways. One goal of NSF is to support basic research, and this proposal meets this goal by examining viral endosymbionts. Emerging evidence from metagenomics is revealing that there exists a previously unappreciated group of viruses that have similar properties, are just as common, and might also play a significant role in the lives of their hosts. The proposed research focuses on one of these viruses, a remarkably successful “viral endosymbiont” of Drosophila melanogaster called galbut virus. Galbut virus is ubiquitous in wild populations of these fruit flies, and exemplifies two paradoxes associated with vertically transmitted symbionts. First, despite efficient biparental vertical transmission, which modeling indicates should drive infection to fixation, only 60% of individual flies are infected. Second, despite a seeming reliance on vertical transmission, there is substantial evidence that galbut virus readily jumps into new host species. Proposed experiments combine genetics, genomics, infection experiments, and crowdsourced field sampling to explore the dynamics of this fascinating virus within and between host populations. This will contribute to a more accurate understanding of the evolutionary and ecological impact of viruses beyond their role as acute pathogens. Broader impacts include the training of graduate and undergraduate students, 3 annual workshops (2 existing and one new), and a new undergraduate course in computational microbiology that will be implemented in an evidence-based manner to encourage participation and success of female students. The proposed citizen-science based sample collection and outreach program will empower volunteers to make their own inquiries about the nature and practice of science.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.