NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Understanding how Tripartite Interactions between Insects, Symbiotic Bacteria, and Parasites Influence Infection Outcomes in Insect Vectors

这一行动资助了NSF 2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。昆虫通常与细菌形成伙伴关系，称为共生体。在昆虫宿主内，细菌共生体可以发挥各种作用，从合成必要的维生素到提高宿主对热应激的抵抗力。这些细菌伙伴还可以改变昆虫对其他微生物感染的反应方式--对于传播感染人类、动物和植物的寄生虫(即昆虫媒介)的昆虫来说，这是一种特别感兴趣的现象。然而，并不是所有的细菌伙伴都是平等的，个体昆虫和寄生虫菌株之间的差异可能会使这些相互作用进一步复杂化。这项研究解决了昆虫、细菌共生体和寄生虫菌株之间的差异如何影响昆虫媒介感染的结果。因此，研究结果对人类健康也有影响；该项目还将有助于解决在这一重要的科学研究领域中某些本科生和学士后群体代表性不足的问题。该研究员将使用接吻昆虫--查加斯病的病原体--克鲁氏锥虫的媒介--及其共生体进行这项研究。这位研究员将首先评估昆虫-共生体在接吻昆虫物种和它们的红球菌属之间的配对是否具有特异性。通过将昆虫和细菌的所有可能组合以完全析因设计配对，并评估昆虫的存活率和繁殖力，以及细菌在昆虫体内的生长和持久性，来研究昆虫的共生体。然后，来自每个接吻昆虫物种原生范围的常见传播的克鲁兹旋毛虫菌株将被用来挑战不同的昆虫-共生体对，以确定哪些对感染是最不允许的。然后，这些数据将被用来确定昆虫、共生体、寄生虫或三者之间的相互作用是否正在推动昆虫感染结果。同时，该研究员将努力通过以下方式扩大历史上代表性不足的群体在科学领域的参与：(1)为本科生和学士后学者提供与该项目有关的研究机会；(2)培养跨学科和职业阶段的代表性不足的科学家的区域网络。这些联合活动旨在增加对科学研究中历史上代表性不足群体的学生的招聘和留住。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Insects commonly form partnerships, known as symbioses, with bacteria. Within their insect hosts, bacterial symbionts can serve a variety of roles from synthesizing essential vitamins to increasing host resistance to heat stress. These bacterial partners can also alter the way insects respond to infection with other microbes—a phenomenon of particular interest for insects that transmit parasites that infect humans, animals, and plants (i.e., insect vectors). However, not all bacterial partners are equal and variation among individual insects as well as parasite strains can further complicate these interactions. This research addresses how variation among insect, bacterial symbiont, and parasite strain influences the outcome of infections in insect vectors. Its outcomes therefore also have implications for human health; the project will also help to address the underrepresentation of certain groups of undergraduates and postbaccalaureates in this important area of scientific inquiry.The Fellow will carry out this research using kissing bugs—vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease—and their symbionts. The Fellow will first assess whether there is specificity in insect-symbiont pairings across kissing bug species and their Rhodococcus spp. symbionts by pairing all possible combinations of insect and bacteria in a full factorial design and assessing insect survival and fecundity as well as bacterial growth and persistence within the insect. Commonly circulating strains of T. cruzi from each kissing bug species’ native range will then be used to challenge the different insect-symbiont pairs to determine which pairings are the least permissive to infection. These data will then be used to determine whether insects, symbionts, parasites, or interactions between the three are driving insect infection outcomes. Concurrently, the Fellow will work to broaden the participation of historically underrepresented groups in science by: (1) providing research opportunities related to the project for undergraduates and post-baccalaureate scholars; and (2) cultivating a regional network of underrepresented scientists across disciplines and career stages. These combined activities seek to increase the recruitment and retention of students from historically underrepresented groups in scientific research.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.