NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021:Parasitism-induced changes in host behavior across scales: linking molecular basis to community impacts

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：寄生引起的跨尺度宿主行为变化：将分子基础与社区影响联系起来

• 批准号: 2109520
• 负责人: Gordon Fitch
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Fitch, Gordon
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109520&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. Diverse animal species respond to parasite infection with self-medication, seeking out resources that reduce the severity or duration of infection. Yet we know little about the molecular drivers of self-medicating behaviors, or about how self-medicating behavior scale up to affect populations of the ‘medicinal’ resource species. The fellow’s research will tackle these questions by studying the response of bumble bees to infection by a common and ecologically important gut parasite, Crithidia bombi. In doing so, the fellow will develop a framework for understanding how parasite infection operates across scales of organization from the biomolecule, to the individual, to the community, and will also contribute to understanding of the effects of Crithidia on bumble bee pollination. The project will first determine how Crithidia infection alters foraging-related gene expression in bumble bees, using comparative transcriptome analysis of brain and gut tissues from infected and uninfected bees allowed to choose between nectar solutions that differ in ‘medicinal’ secondary metabolite concentration. Then, laboratory choice experiments with captive bees will be used to determine the behavioral mechanism (i.e. preference vs. reduced discernment) underlying increased consumption of nectar high in ‘medicinal’ secondary metabolites by infected bees. Finally, tent experiments with infected and uninfected microcolonies, provisioned with a field-realistic floral community that includes thyme plants of distinct chemotypes, will test whether parasitism-induced changes to foraging have differential fitness consequences for two thyme (Thymus vulgaris) chemotypes (one with high nectar concentrations of ‘medicinal’ secondary metabolites, the other with low concentrations). Bee foraging behavior and thyme seed production will be compared across treatments in a factorial 2 x 2 infection status x plant chemotype design. Through this project, the fellow will develop critical skills in transcriptomics, chemical ecology, and behavioral ecology. The fellow will also develop and deliver related educational outreach activities to engage middle-school youth in science and conservation.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.

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。不同的动物物种对寄生虫感染的反应是自我药物治疗，寻找减少感染严重程度或持续时间的资源。然而，我们对自我用药行为的分子驱动力知之甚少，也不知道自我用药行为如何扩大到影响“药用”资源物种的种群。该研究员的研究将通过研究熊蜂对一种常见的生态学上重要的肠道寄生虫Crithidia bombi感染的反应来解决这些问题。在这样做的过程中，该研究员将开发一个框架，以了解寄生虫感染如何在从生物分子到个人到社区的组织规模上运作，并将有助于理解Crithidia对熊蜂授粉的影响。该项目将首先确定Crithidia感染如何改变熊蜂中与觅食相关的基因表达，使用感染和未感染蜜蜂的大脑和肠道组织的比较转录组分析，允许在“药用”次级代谢物浓度不同的花蜜溶液之间进行选择。然后，实验室选择实验与圈养蜜蜂将被用来确定行为机制（即偏好与减少识别）的基础上增加消费花蜜高的“药用”次级代谢产物的感染蜜蜂。最后，帐篷实验感染和未感染的小菌落，提供了一个现场现实的花卉社区，其中包括不同的化学型的百里香植物，将测试是否寄生虫引起的变化觅食有差异健身后果的两个百里香（百里香）化学型（一个具有高花蜜浓度的“药用”次级代谢产物，其他低浓度）。蜜蜂觅食行为和百里香种子生产将在析因2 × 2感染状态×植物化学型设计中在处理之间进行比较。通过这个项目，该研究员将开发转录组学，化学生态学和行为生态学的关键技能。该研究员还将开发和提供相关的教育推广活动，让中学生参与科学和保护。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。