NSF PRFB FY23: Deciphering the relationship between host convergent evolution, division of labor, and microbiome assembly within the honeypot ant system

这一行动为NSF 2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。动物有许多克服自然界挑战的策略。当不同的动物共享一个问题的相似解决方案时，这被称为收敛进化。为了应对营养方面的挑战，许多动物会与细菌和真菌等微生物合作。这种微生物可以为动物的饮食补充必要的营养，或者帮助消化坚硬的食物。这项研究将调查同样的微生物是否会出现在一组融合进化的蚂蚁中，即蜜罐蚂蚁。世界上至少有16种蜜罐蚂蚁，它们分享着在沙漠般的环境中生活的策略。所有的蜜罐蚁群都有一类特殊的工蚁，称为繁殖蚁。复制者在他们的腹部储存食物，有时会膨胀到弹珠大小，与他们储存的所有食物一起。由于这种分工，在食物短缺的旱季，蚂蚁可以为整个蚂蚁群体提供食物。这部作品将描述这部作品的特点(谁在那里？)和功能(它们在做什么？)不同蜜罐蚂蚁的微生物群落。这将使人们更深入地了解进化和分工对微生物群落的影响，反之亦然。由于所有动物都以某种方式与微生物联系在一起，这些结果可以应用于蚂蚁以外的领域。此外，这项工作将有益于社会，因为这位研究员将在各种外展工作中分享一个具有魅力和生物趣味的系统。该研究员将为蚂蚁访客中心做出贡献，并指导纽瓦克罗格斯大学的本科生和研究生研究人员。该项目的主要目标是在多个生物尺度上表征蜜罐蚂蚁的肠道微生物群：1)同种蚂蚁的肠道隔室和等级；2)同域异种蚂蚁的肠道隔室和等级；3)异地异种蚂蚁的肠道隔室和等级。利用依赖于培养的、独立于培养的和实验技术，包括扩增子测序、分离、全基因组测序和活的菌落操纵，该研究员将从分类和功能上表征与蜜罐蚂蚁消化系统相关的微生物。该项目将专门针对Myrmecocystus spp.这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, 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. Animals have many strategies for overcoming challenges in nature. When different animals share a similar solution to a problem, this is known as convergent evolution. For nutritional challenges, many animals team up with microbes, such as bacteria and fungi. The microbes can supplement the animal’s diet with essential nutrients or help digest tough foods. This research will investigate if the same microbes will be present across a group of convergently-evolved ants, the honeypot ants. There are at least sixteen types of honeypot ants across the world that share a strategy for living in desert-like environments. All honeypot ant colonies have a specialized class of workers, called repletes. Repletes store food in their abdomen, sometimes swelling up to the size of a marble with all the food they store. Due to this division of labor, the repletes can provide food for the entire ant colony during the dry season, when food is in short supply. This work will characterize the composition (who is there?) and function (what are they doing?) of the microbiomes of different honeypot ants. This will result in a deeper understanding of the impacts of evolution and division of labor on microbial communities, and vice versa. Since all animals associate with microbes in some way, these results could be applied beyond ants. Also, this work will benefit society as the fellow will be sharing a charismatic and biologically interesting system in various outreach efforts. The fellow will contribute to an Ant Visitor Center and mentor undergraduate and graduate researchers at Rutgers University – Newark.The main objective of this project is to characterize the gut microbiome of honeypot ants at multiple biological scales: 1) Gut compartments and castes of conspecifics 2) Gut compartments and castes of sympatric heterospecifics, and 3) Gut compartments and castes of allopatric heterospecifics. Using culture-dependent, culture-independent, and experimental techniques, including amplicon sequencing, isolations, whole genome sequencing, and live colony manipulation, the fellow will taxonomically and functionally characterize the microbes associated with the digestive system of honeypot ants. This project will specifically focus on Myrmecocystus spp. (North America), Tapinolepis trimenii (South Africa), and Camponotus inflatus (Australia), as well as any other lineages that collaborators in the International Consortium of Honeypot Ant Researchers can obtain.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.