Development and Optimization of a Digital AC-DC Electropenetrograph for Real-Time Recording of On-host Tick Feeding

用于实时记录宿主蜱摄食的数字交流-直流电渗透仪的开发和优化

• 批准号: 2304787
• 负责人: Kathryn Reif
• 金额: $ 72.32万
• 依托单位: Kansas 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: 2023-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304787&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Optimization; Digital; AC; DC

An award is made to Kansas State University (in collaboration with USDA Agricultural Research Service and Harvey Mudd College) to design, build, and test a digital AC-DC electropenetrograph to study the real-time feeding behaviors of blood-feeding arthropods, using ticks as the model system. Ticks and other blood-feeding arthropods transmit a wide array of medically- and veterinary-important pathogens, many of these increasingly exacerbated by climate change. An important obstacle to basic research on tick feeding behavior is the inability to capture observations and statistically analyze details of tick feeding behavior because it is masked below the surface of the host’s skin. The challenge is further compounded by the incredibly long durations over which ticks feed (~7 to 10 days for adult ticks). To address this methodological deficit, this project will develop a user- and application-friendly digital AC-DC electropenetrograph which will enable researchers to readily investigate these hidden behaviors in unprecedented detail. This project brings together a transdisciplinary team of scientists that will collectively support the training of 12 to 20 undergraduates and a postdoctoral researcher, giving them opportunities to explore this burgeoning area of research interest from diverse perspectives of engineering, computer science, and biology. Project undergraduates and the postdoctoral researcher will work in teams mentored and guided by project scientists. Trainees, recruited as broadly as possible, will interact with scientists from academia, government, and industry, affording them opportunities to investigate future career paths. Trainees will be involved in both intellectual and physical aspects of this research and will participate in the iterative evaluation of their designs tested using a combination of arthropod species: ticks (project model blood-feeding arthropod) and aphids (gold standard insect for electropenetrography research). Project scientists and trainees will also have opportunity to share project goals with broader audiences through development and delivery of related content and experiential opportunities through community and science communication engagement platforms and events (e.g. Kansas Science Fair).Electropenetrography (EPG) is a transformational technology that has been used for nearly 65 years to study the masked feeding behaviors of piercing-sucking, plant-feeding insects. However, such a means of studying the basic behaviors of blood-feeding arthropods in real time, including ticks that feed for extreme durations (days to weeks), has eluded biologists for decades. Despite initial success with tick and mosquito feeding recordings using the existing analog AC-DC electropenetrograph, this instrumentation presents notable physical limitations for working with blood-feeding arthropods on vertebrate hosts. Developing a more user- and application-friendly digital AC-DC electropenetrograph will solve this challenge and enable ground-breaking investigations to detect, characterize, and quantify the progressive and highly coordinated feeding behaviors performed by ticks and other blood-feeding arthropods. Hypothesis-driven studies can then be performed to study basic feeding biology and investigate how host factors, vector characteristics, pathogens, and chemical interventions specifically modify hidden arthropod blood-feeding behaviors. In this project, the digital AC-DC electropenetrograph will be evaluated over the course of three scientific objectives: (i) Design and build a prototype digital AC-DC electropenetrograph and associated software to record tick feeding on an unsedated live host; (ii) Iteratively evaluate versions of the prototype instrument with live ticks and live host, and modify prototype as needed; and, (iii) Demonstrate the usability of the digital AC-DC electropenetrograph to record and statistically compare tick feeding behaviors upon applications of a behavior-interdicting compound. Successful completion of this research will deliver a user-friendly, commercializable instrument and associated software that will: 1) accelerate expansion of electropenetrography from plant-feeding insects into blood-feeding arthropods, 2) ensure the continued availability of this crucial infrastructure through an evolved digital instrument design, and 3) allow faster high-throughput uses through development-associated machine learning software. Project outcomes will include development of a user-friendly, digital AC-DC electropenetrograph and supporting ‘arthropod species flexible’ software. This novel research instrument will spur new opportunity for a broad community of researchers interested in improving the resiliency of animal and plant agriculture from blood-feeding and plant feeding arthropods.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.

堪萨斯州立大学（与美国农业部农业研究服务和哈维马德学院合作）获得了一项奖励，以设计、建造和测试数字AC-DC电流描记器，以蜱虫为模型系统，研究吸血节肢动物的实时摄食行为。蜱虫和其他吸血节肢动物传播各种医学和兽医重要的病原体，其中许多病原体因气候变化而日益加剧。蜱虫取食行为基础研究的一个重要障碍是无法捕捉观察和统计分析蜱虫取食行为的细节，因为它被掩盖在宿主皮肤表面之下。蜱虫取食的持续时间长得令人难以置信（成年蜱虫约7至10天），这进一步加剧了挑战。为了解决这一方法上的缺陷，该项目将开发一种用户和应用友好的数字AC-DC电流描记器，使研究人员能够以前所未有的细节随时调查这些隐藏的行为。该项目汇集了一个跨学科的科学家团队，将共同支持12至20名本科生和博士后研究人员的培训，使他们有机会从工程，计算机科学和生物学的不同角度探索这一新兴的研究领域。项目本科生和博士后研究人员将在项目科学家的指导和指导下团队工作。尽可能广泛招募的受训人员将与来自学术界、政府和工业界的科学家互动，为他们提供研究未来职业道路的机会。学员将参与本研究的智力和身体方面，并将参与使用节肢动物物种组合测试的设计的迭代评估：蜱虫（项目模型吸血节肢动物）和蚜虫（电生理学研究的金标准昆虫）。项目科学家和学员还将有机会通过社区和科学传播参与平台和活动开发和提供相关内容和体验机会，与更广泛的受众分享项目目标（例如，堪萨斯科学博览会）。脑电图（EPG）是一种转化技术，已经使用了近65年来研究刺吸式哺乳动物的掩蔽摄食行为，以植物为食的昆虫然而，这种研究吸血节肢动物真实的基本行为的方法，包括极端持续时间（几天到几周）的蜱虫，几十年来一直困扰着生物学家。尽管使用现有的模拟AC-DC electrophotographer初步成功地记录了蜱虫和蚊子的进食，但该仪器在脊椎动物宿主上与吸血节肢动物一起工作时存在显著的物理限制。开发一个更用户和应用友好的数字AC-DC electrochromograph将解决这一挑战，并使突破性的调查，以检测，表征和量化蜱虫和其他吸血节肢动物执行的渐进和高度协调的进食行为。假设驱动的研究，然后可以进行研究基本的喂养生物学和调查如何主机因素，载体特性，病原体和化学干预措施，特别是修改隐藏的节肢动物吸血行为。在该项目中，将在三个科学目标的过程中对数字式交直流电描记器进行评估：㈠设计和建造一个原型数字式交直流电描记器和相关软件，以记录蜱虫在未使用镇静剂的活宿主上的进食情况; ㈡反复评估带有活蜱虫和活宿主的原型仪器的版本，并根据需要修改原型;以及（iii）证明数字AC-DC心电图仪在记录和统计学比较应用行为阻断化合物后的蜱进食行为方面的可用性。这项研究的成功完成将提供一个用户友好的，可商业化的仪器和相关软件，将：1）加速从植物饲养昆虫到吸血节肢动物的电生理学扩展，2）通过进化的数字仪器设计确保这一关键基础设施的持续可用性，以及3）通过开发相关的机器学习软件允许更快的高通量使用。 项目成果将包括开发一个用户友好的数字化AC-DC电流描记器和支持“节肢动物物种灵活”软件。这一新颖的研究工具将为广大研究人员带来新的机会，这些研究人员有兴趣提高动物和植物农业对吸血和植物喂养节肢动物的适应能力。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。