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

这项行动资助了2023财年的NSF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。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域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。在昆虫宿主体内，细菌共生体可以发挥多种作用，从合成必需维生素到增加宿主对热应激的抵抗力。这些细菌伴侣还可以改变昆虫对其他微生物感染的反应方式-这是一种对传播感染人类、动物和植物的寄生虫的昆虫特别感兴趣的现象（即，昆虫媒介）。然而，并不是所有的细菌伴侣都是平等的，个体昆虫和寄生虫菌株之间的差异会使这些相互作用进一步复杂化。本研究探讨了昆虫、细菌共生体和寄生虫菌株之间的变异如何影响昆虫媒介感染的结果。因此，其成果也对人类健康产生影响;该项目还将有助于解决某些大学生和学士后群体在这一重要科学研究领域代表性不足的问题。研究员将利用接吻虫--克氏锥虫的媒介，恰加斯病的病原体--及其共生体开展这项研究。研究员将首先评估接吻虫物种及其红球菌属物种之间的昆虫共生体配对是否具有特异性。通过在完全析因设计中配对昆虫和细菌的所有可能组合并评估昆虫存活和繁殖力以及细菌在昆虫内的生长和持久性来确定共生体。常见的T.然后，来自每个接吻虫物种的原生范围的cruzi将被用来挑战不同的昆虫共生体对，以确定哪些配对最不允许感染。这些数据将用于确定昆虫、共生体、寄生虫或三者之间的相互作用是否会导致昆虫感染。与此同时，该研究员将致力于通过以下方式扩大历来代表性不足的群体对科学的参与：（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代表性不足的科学家的区域网络。这些综合活动旨在增加从历史上代表性不足的群体中招募和保留学生的科学研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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, 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.