NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Phage life history and evolution as a driver of microbial ecology

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：噬菌体生命史和进化作为微生物生态学的驱动力

• 批准号: 2109851
• 负责人: Emily Ebel
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Ebel, Emily R
• 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: 2021-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109851&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. In virtually every environment on earth, many kinds of bacteria and viruses co-exist within microbial communities. Different kinds of communities perform different functions important for humans, such as nutrient absorption in the gut, chemical cycling in the soil, and fermentation of food and drink. These functions depend on the stable coexistence of different community members, each of which is constantly evolving and responding to environmental changes. This research will explore how phage, a group of viruses that infect bacteria, impact the stability of microbial communities over time. Phage can quickly evolve to infect different types of bacteria and transfer important genes between them. Depending on the environment, they may either kill bacteria outright or remain dormant for generations. Understanding the behavior and evolution of phage in diverse settings will give scientists more tools to control microbial communities, especially in the face of environmental change. This research will also support teaching, mentoring, and outreach by the Fellow to improve scientific communication and participation of underrepresented groups. Although diverse bacteriophage are expected to be key drivers of bacterial population dynamics, common sequencing approaches are unable to resolve phage life history strategies or host ranges within complex microbial communities. Consequently, many fundamentals of phage-bacteria interactions remain unknown, including how quickly host range evolves; how phage life history is shaped by environmental stress; or the overall extent to which phage drive bacterial abundance and community stability. This research will combine emerging single-cell sequencing approaches with culture-based phenotype assays and environmental stress experiments to characterize how phage behavior and evolution impact microbial community stability. To understand the interactions between ecological factors and phage proprieties, the Fellow will perform natural community sampling from diverse environments as well as manipulative experiments with synthetic communities in a model laboratory organism. Through this project, the Fellow will develop laboratory and analysis skills in complex microbial systems, collaborate with diverse microbiome scientists, and produce scientific publications with the aim of improving functional control of microbial communities. The Fellow will also gain experience teaching and mentoring undergraduates and work to improve transparency and inclusion in 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.

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。几乎在地球上的每一个环境中，许多种细菌和病毒都共存于微生物群落中。不同种类的群落对人类具有不同的重要功能，例如肠道中的营养吸收，土壤中的化学循环以及食物和饮料的发酵。这些功能取决于不同社区成员的稳定共存，每个成员都在不断发展，并对环境变化作出反应。这项研究将探索噬菌体，一组感染细菌的病毒，如何随着时间的推移影响微生物群落的稳定性。噬菌体可以迅速进化，感染不同类型的细菌，并在它们之间转移重要的基因。根据环境的不同，它们可能会直接杀死细菌，也可能会在几代人的时间里保持休眠状态。了解噬菌体在不同环境中的行为和进化将为科学家提供更多控制微生物群落的工具，特别是在面对环境变化时。这项研究还将支持教学，指导和推广研究员，以改善科学交流和代表性不足的群体的参与。虽然不同的噬菌体预计是细菌种群动态的关键驱动因素，但常见的测序方法无法解决复杂微生物群落中的噬菌体生活史策略或宿主范围。因此，噬菌体-细菌相互作用的许多基本原理仍然是未知的，包括宿主范围的演变速度;环境压力如何塑造噬菌体生活史;或者噬菌体驱动细菌丰度和群落稳定性的总体程度。这项研究将结合联合收割机新兴的单细胞测序方法与基于培养的表型测定和环境压力实验，以表征噬菌体行为和进化如何影响微生物群落稳定性。为了了解生态因素和噬菌体特性之间的相互作用，研究员将从不同的环境中进行自然群落采样，以及在模型实验室生物中进行人工合成群落的操作实验。通过这个项目，研究员将开发复杂微生物系统的实验室和分析技能，与不同的微生物组科学家合作，并制作科学出版物，以改善微生物群落的功能控制。该研究员还将获得教学和指导本科生的经验，并致力于提高科学的透明度和包容性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。