CAREER: Fungal pathogen induced dysbiosis alters microbiome assembly along host resource gradients: implications for biodiversity conservation

职业：真菌病原体引起的生态失调改变了宿主资源梯度上的微生物组组装：对生物多样性保护的影响

• 批准号: 2236580
• 负责人: Donald Walker
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: Middle Tennessee State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2028-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236580&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Fungal; pathogen; induced; dysbiosis

Reptiles are among the most threatened species on Earth with approximately 20% of taxa at risk of extinction. This threat is likely a cumulative effect of environmental, climatic, and biotic factors, such as emerging pathogens. Recently, a fungal pathogen of snakes (Ophidiomyces ophidiicola) has been linked with population declines in the USA. This snake skin pathogen causes changes to the skin microbiome by affecting the structure and function of bacterial assemblages. The microbiome is an important component of host health and can provide disease resistance to wildlife pathogens. This research will study interactions between O. ophidiicola and skin microbiomes, with tangible conservation implications. The proposed model system will advance understanding of mechanisms that contribute to variation in microbiome communities across gradients. The researchers propose to fill a knowledge gap by testing for the effects of fungal pathogens on mechanisms of microbiome community assembly, and more generally, advance fundamental knowledge of disease ecology. Outreach activities with zoos and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will help inform the general public about wildlife disease and the importance of skin microbiomes in biodiversity conservation. An undergraduate microbiome scientist program at Middle Tennessee State University will contribute to the training of the next generation of microbial ecologists. Dysbiosis is defined as disruption to the typical function or composition of a microbiome, potentially resulting in adverse effects to host health. The proposed work will use the snake fungal disease system to improve understanding of disease ecology, bacterial-fungal interactions and dysbiosis to skin microbiomes. This will be accomplished by studies spanning multiple scales (field, live animal, lab-based) in ecology to allow for explicit hypothesis tests, cross validation of observed ecological trends and establishment of fundamental rules governing pathogen induced dysbiosis. The researchers will test the following hypotheses, H1: Bacterial assemblages of reptile skin microbiomes are structured by interactions with fungi across space, time and host ecology. H2: Variation in microbiome α- and β-diversity are predictably altered by pathogen induced dysbiosis. H3: Taxonomic and functional variability are attributed to metabolic niche effects across a gradient of host resources and/or fungal metabolites. This research will produce a comprehensive census of bacterial and fungal microbiome diversity on reptile species with important contributions to inform experimental systems focused on microbial interactions and disease ecology.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.

爬行动物是地球上最受威胁的物种之一，大约有20％的分类单元具有延伸风险。这种威胁可能是环境，气候和生物因素（例如新兴病原体）的累积作用。最近，蛇的真菌病原体（Ophidiomyces ophidiicola）与美国种群下降有关。这种蛇皮病原体通过影响细菌组合的结构和功能而导致皮肤微生物组的变化。微生物组是宿主健康的重要组成部分，可以为野生动植物病原体提供抗病性。这项研究将研究O. ophidiicola和皮肤微生物组之间的相互作用，具有切实的保护。提出的模型系统将提高人们对跨梯度跨微生物组群落变化的机制的理解。研究人员建议通过测试真菌病原体对微生物组社区组装机制的影响以及更普遍地提高对疾病生态的基本知识的影响，来填补知识差距。与动物园和大烟山国家公园的外展活动将有助于告知普通大众野生动植物疾病以及皮肤微生物在生物多样性保护中的重要性。田纳西州立大学的一项本科生微生物组科学家计划将有助于培训下一代微生物生态学家。营养不良被定义为对微生物组的典型功能或组成的破坏，可能导致对宿主健康的不利影响。拟议的工作将使用蛇真菌疾病系统来提高对疾病生态学，细菌相互作用和对皮肤微生物症的营养不良的理解。这将通过跨越多个量表（现场，活动物，基于实验室）的研究来完成，以进行明确的假设检验，对观察到的生态趋势的交叉验证以及建立控制病原体诱发营养不良的基本规则。研究人员将检验以下假设，H1：复制皮肤微生物组的细菌组合是通过在时空，时间和宿主生态学之间与真菌的相互作用来结构的。 H2：病原体诱导的营养不良的微生物组α-和β多样性的变化会改变。 H3：分类学和功能变异性归因于宿主资源和/或真菌代谢产物的代谢利基效应。这项研究将对爬行动物物种进行全面的人口普查和真菌微生物组的多样性，这些物种具有重要的贡献，这些奖项是为了为实验系统提供了针对微生物相互作用和疾病生态学的实验系统的重要贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识和更广泛的影响来审查Criteria的评估，以评估来获得珍贵的支持。