NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Understanding gut microbiome variation in the context of an emerging wildlife pathogen

该行动资助2021财年美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大生物学中代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。正如2019冠状病毒病大流行所证明的那样，新发传染病是对人类和动物的重大威胁。对于野生动物来说，了解宿主如何应对新出现的疾病对物种保护具有重要意义。鉴于微生物组作为一个重要因素的作用，可以保护和加剧对感染的反应，该研究员将在新出现的野生动物疾病背景下研究病原体诱导的微生物组动态。该研究员致力于培训来自美国和南非的本科生和研究生中代表性不足的群体，以表征病原体和宿主微生物组的相互作用，目的是为下一代科学家提供了解和应对野生动物疾病的工具。本研究旨在研究牛结核杆菌（bTB）病原体与野生非洲水牛肠道菌群之间的相互作用，以此作为理解病原体诱导的菌群变化后果的模型。bTB具有消耗效应，随着疾病的进展，感染宿主会消瘦。因此，研究员将验证bTB在个体宿主和群体水平上影响肠道微生物组的假设，这些变化以加剧bTB消耗效应的方式影响宿主代谢。该研究员将结合实地研究和实验，在受控和自然条件下描述野生水牛感染bTB之前和期间的肠道微生物群和宿主性能。16s rRNA和霰弹枪宏基因组测序将用于表征微生物组的组成和功能。此外，气相色谱法和微生物体外受精法将分别用于测量短链脂肪酸和甲烷的产生。该提案将解决三个目标：(i)识别和表征bTB感染期间肠道微生物组的变化，（ii）量化bTB感染背景下宿主和肠道微生物组的代谢，以及（iii）研究bTB是否在宿主群体规模上塑造肠道微生物组。在博士的指导下。Vanessa Ezenwa和Todd Callaway，研究员将推进和扩大分子和疾病生态学和动物科学的研究培训；通过撰写稿件和教学提高沟通能力；并通过培训不同的学生群体来培养强大的指导技能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. As evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, emerging infectious diseases are a major threat to humans and animals. For wildlife, understanding how hosts respond to new diseases as they emerge has significant implications for species conservation. Given the role of the microbiome as an important factor that can protect and exacerbate response to infection, the Fellow will investigate pathogen-induced microbiome dynamics in the context of an emerging wildlife disease. The Fellow is committed to training underrepresented groups at the undergraduate and graduate levels from the US and South Africa to characterize pathogens and host microbiome interactions with the goal of preparing the next generation of scientists with the tools to understand and confront wildlife diseases. This proposal investigates interactions between the pathogen Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), and the gut microbiota in wild African buffalo as a model for understanding the consequences of pathogen-induced microbiome changes. bTB has a wasting effect that results in the emaciation of infected hosts as the disease progress. Thus, the Fellow will test the hypothesis that bTB affects the gut microbiome at both the individual host and population levels, and these changes influence host metabolism in ways that exacerbate the wasting effects of bTB. The Fellow will use a combination of field studies and experiments to characterize gut microbiome and host performance of wild buffalo before and during bTB infection under controlled and natural conditions. Both 16s rRNA and shotgun metagenomics sequencing will be used to characterize microbiome composition and function. Additionally, gas chromatography and in vitro-fertilization of microbes will be used to measure short-chain fatty acid and methane production, respectively. The proposal will address three aims: (i) identify and characterize gut microbiome changes during bTB infection, (ii) quantify host and gut microbiome metabolism in the context of bTB infection, and (iii) investigate whether bTB shapes the gut microbiome at the host population scale. Under the guidance of Drs. Vanessa Ezenwa and Todd Callaway, the Fellow will advance and expand research training in molecular and disease ecology and animal science; enhance communication skills through manuscript writing and teaching; and develop strong mentorship skills by training diverse cohorts of students.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.