IntBIO: Collaborative Research: Integrating molecular, cellular, organismal and community scales to understand how plants structure pollinator-pathogen dynamics

传粉媒介对植物繁殖和人类粮食安全至关重要，但由于包括病原体在内的压力因素，许多传粉媒介物种正在减少。最近的研究发现，向日葵花粉可以显著减少大黄蜂肠道常见病原体的感染，而不同种类的花在影响病原体传播方面的方式不同，这提出了本研究将解决的两个关键问题：植物物种如何影响其传粉媒介的疾病动态，以及这些影响的机制是什么？该项目的工作涉及分子生物学家、生态学家和数学建模师之间的新合作。这项工作将结合分子和生态学研究，以了解花粉如何影响感染，并评估病原体如何在花中传播。该项目还将与土地管理者合作，创造新的传粉媒介栖息地，以模拟和测试花卉资源如何影响传粉媒介的健康。该项目将开展广泛的公共宣传，为来自服务欠缺社区的中学生制定课后课程，并培训研究生进行包容性教学实践。总的来说，这项工作将在学科之间建立桥梁，以了解花卉如何影响传粉者的健康，并将培养新一代多样化的科学家。食物资源是介导宿主-病原体动力学的关键因素，但它们在不同的生物组织水平上可能具有相反的作用。例如，资源的质量或数量可以刺激宿主免疫系统并在机体水平上减少感染，但在社区水平上增加宿主密度和接触率，从而加剧病原体的传播。本研究将整合实验，以确定资源质量和数量对宿主-病原体动态的影响，在分子，细胞，有机体，物种相互作用和群落水平上，使用高度可处理的实验室和现场系统，蜜蜂和通过共享花卉资源传播的锥虫病病原体。利用25种植物，研究将评估花粉日粮对病原体体外分子和细胞过程的影响，体内感染动态，觅食期间传播的可能性，以及现场访问网络和传粉者种群动态。目标植物包括来自菊科的物种，这是最普遍存在的维管植物家族之一，因为最近的研究表明，来自菊科的花粉可以持续减少大黄蜂的感染。来自所有目标的数据将使用数学模型进行整合，该模型将多个尺度的过程联系起来，以预测植物群落组成如何影响传粉媒介的病原体感染。该项目将为研究生提供公平的STEM教学法培训，同时在服务不足的社区创建中学科学课程，并与专注于公平性的STEM教育工作者合作，以最大限度地提高效率。与多个创造传粉媒介栖息地的团体合作将为促进科学家和利益相关者之间的交流提供一个理想的平台。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。

Pollinators are critical for plant reproduction and human food security, but many pollinator species are declining due to stressors, including pathogens. The recent discoveries that sunflower pollen dramatically reduces infection by a common gut pathogen in bumble bees, and that flower species differ in how they affect pathogen transmission raises two key questions that will be addressed by this research: How do plant species affect disease dynamics in their pollinators, and what are the mechanisms responsible for those effects? The project work involves a new collaboration between a molecular biologist, ecologists, and a mathematical modeler. The work will combine molecular and ecological studies to understand how pollen shapes infection and to assess how pathogens are transmitted at flowers. The project will also partner with land managers creating new pollinator habitats to model and test how floral resources affect pollinator health. The project will conduct extensive public outreach, develop an after-school curriculum for middle-school students from an underserved community, and train graduate students in inclusive teaching practices. Taken together, this work will build bridges between disciplines to understand how flowers affect pollinator health and will train a new diverse generation of scientists. Food resources are key factors mediating host-pathogen dynamics, but they may have opposing effects at different biological levels of organization. For example, resource quality or quantity could stimulate the host immune system and reduce infection at the organismal level, yet increase host densities and contact rates at the community level, exacerbating pathogen spread. This research will integrate experiments to determine the impacts of resource quality and quantity on host-pathogen dynamics at the molecular, cellular, organismal, species interactions, and community levels using a highly tractable laboratory and field system of bees and a trypanosomatid pathogen that is transmitted via shared floral resources. Using 25 plant species, studies will assess effects of pollen diets on pathogen molecular and cellular processes in vitro, infection dynamics in vivo, likelihood of transmission during foraging, and visitation networks and pollinator population dynamics in the field. Plants to be targeted include the species from the Asteraceae, one of the most ubiquitous vascular plant families, because recent research shows that pollen from this family consistently reduces infection in bumble bees. Data from all objectives will be integrated using mathematical modeling that connects processes at multiple scales to predict how plant community composition shapes pathogen infection in pollinators. The project will provide equitable STEM pedagogy training for graduate students while creating middle school science programming in under-served communities, collaborating with a STEM educator focused on equitability to maximize effectiveness. Engagement with multiple groups creating pollinator habitat will provide an ideal platform for fostering communication between scientists and stakeholders.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.