NSF PRFB FY23: Dissecting the holobiont: exploring how genetics, environments, and microbiomes contribute to emergent host phenotypes

这项行动资助了2023财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，综合研究调查了基因组，环境和表型之间的生命管理相互作用的规则。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。微生物可以对动物产生许多影响，包括从消化到在极端温度下生存的一切。例如，在没有微生物的水中饲养的绿色青蛙蝌蚪比在含有野生池塘微生物的水中饲养的蝌蚪更容易受到高温的影响，并且有更高的机会死于热应激。这表明它们的微生物组-生活在蝌蚪体内和蝌蚪上的微生物-塑造了青蛙的生理和对极端条件的耐受性。绿色青蛙生活在整个美国东海岸的池塘里，从寒冷的北方州到温暖的南方州。一个未知的问题是：生活在池塘里的微生物和它们的居民蝌蚪在北方和南方是不同的吗？如果是这样的话，是北方的微生物帮助青蛙在冷水中茁壮成长，还是南方的微生物帮助它们在温水中茁壮成长？通过观察和实验的结合，这位研究员将研究绿色青蛙在其地理范围内的微生物组，看看它们是否有助于青蛙在广泛的温度范围内茁壮成长。这项工作对于预测动物如何应对环境变化和帮助两栖动物保护工作非常重要。 为了解决这些问题，这位研究员将从比较水和蝌蚪微生物组开始，这些微生物组来自沿着的池塘。通过将这种分析与栖息地特征相结合，该研究员将探索蝌蚪池塘栖息地微生物群落变化的驱动因素。在此实地考察的基础上，该研究员将使用来自北方和南方范围限制的绿色青蛙进行圈养繁殖研究，并进行析因实验，在用从北方或南方池塘收集的微生物改良的水箱中饲养它们的后代，然后测量蝌蚪的热性能。通过这些活动，研究员将获得对影响微生物组组成的因素的新认识（即，宿主遗传学、环境条件和环境微生物）及其对青蛙微生物组种内变异和紧急热表型的影响。通过这个项目，研究员还将获得生物信息学，微生物组生理学和实验室领导方面的宝贵培训。最后，该研究员将举办导师研讨会，以促进包容性和知情的导师实践，并将建议和参与以保护为重点的STEM教育计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是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的支持。

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. Microbes can have many effects on animals, including everything from their digestion to their survival in extreme temperatures. For example, green frog tadpoles raised in water without microbes were more affected by high temperatures and had a higher chance of dying from heat stress than tadpoles grown in water containing wild pond microbes. This suggests that their microbiome – the microbes living in and on tadpoles – shapes the frog’s physiology and tolerance to extreme conditions. Green frogs live in ponds across the entire East Coast of the USA, from colder northern states to much warmer southern states. An unknown question is: are the microbes living in ponds and their resident tadpoles different in the North and South? And if so, do northern microbes help frogs thrive in colder water or southern microbes help them in warmer water? Using a combination of observations and experiments, the fellow will study green frog microbiomes across their geographic range, to see if they help the frogs to thrive across a wide range of temperatures. This work is important for predicting how animals will respond to environmental change and helping amphibian conservation efforts. To address these questions, the fellow will start by comparing water and tadpole microbiomes from ponds along the species' range. By pairing this analysis with habitat characterization, the fellow will explore drivers of variation in microbial communities from tadpole pond habitat. Building on this fieldwork, the fellow will conduct a captive breeding study using green frogs from their northern and southern range limits and perform a factorial experiment, rearing their offspring in tanks amended with microbes collected from northern or southern ponds, followed by measuring tadpole thermal performance. Through these activities, the fellow will gain new understanding of the factors shaping microbiome composition (i.e., host genetics, environmental conditions, and environmental microbes) and their impacts on intraspecific variation in the frog microbiome and emergent thermal phenotypes. Through this project, the fellow will also gain invaluable training in bioinformatics, microbiome physiology, and lab leadership. Finally, the fellow will host mentorship workshops to promote inclusive and informed mentorship practices and will advise and participate in conservation-focused STEM education programs.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.