Collaborative Research: Insults for free: the roles of metamorphosis and dormancy in aging dynamics

生物年龄并不总是与实际年龄相关，目前还不清楚生理如何促进衰老或防止衰老。一些假说预测，生物体将修复生殖所需的组织，同时允许其他组织老化。其他假说则预测了相反的情况：与生殖相关的组织会衰老得更快，这是因为选择了早期的生命健康。这项研究将考察不同生命阶段和组织的衰老动态，以及对压力的反应。蜜蜂是探索寿命极端差异的机制基础的理想系统，它让人们对衰老的调控因素有了大致的了解。与脊椎动物相比，蜜蜂的生命周期较短，因此有可能研究其衰老的生命模式。而且，细胞衰老的许多方面在昆虫和脊椎动物中都是保守的。研究不同物种之间的衰老动力学如何不同，可能会带来破坏衰老负面影响的新方法。在一个有机体面临越来越大的压力，许多蜜蜂物种正在减少的世界里，了解衰老尤其紧迫。拟议的研究将支持六名研究生和六名本科生的培训。将开发一个关于大黄蜂涌现的K-12学习模块，作为实践课程，让美国原住民高中生参与STEM。作为正在进行的合作的一部分，将与红河谷动物园(新泽西州法戈)以及科学儿童和怀俄明州公共广播公司(怀俄明州拉勒米)共同开发关于传粉者的信息展览和外联活动。这项研究的目的是将生理学和生活史理论结合起来，以机械的方式解释衰老的模式。昆虫的变态可能是一次性胞体假说的极端版本。在变态过程中，幼虫组织被回收，并被具有干细胞样特性的想象细胞取代，这些细胞有可能比它们所取代的组织更年轻。昆虫的变态可以提供一个机会来处理受损的躯体组织，减轻幼虫暴露在压力下的影响。昆虫越冬，也被称为滞育，对衰老也有重要的影响。与非滞育个体相比，滞育个体的寿命增加了6倍。这项研究将通过检测细胞损伤和有机体的表现来确定变态和滞育如何促进衰老动力学：1)确定衰老和衰老的细胞标志之间的关系；2)通过比较变态过程中形成的组织和幼虫阶段遗留下来的细胞衰老来检查变态期间的一次性胞体如何影响衰老；以及3)评估越冬休眠是减缓衰老还是再生。这项拟议的研究将在独居蜂和大黄蜂身上研究这些动态，并将加强NDSU、UW和USDA-ARS之间已经富有成效的合作，并极大地扩展对导致衰老差异的机制的已知。该项目由综合生态生理学计划和既定的刺激竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)联合资助。该奖项反映了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。

Biological age does not always correlate with chronological age, and it is unclear how physiology contributes to aging or protects from it. Some hypotheses predict that organisms will repair tissues necessary for reproduction, while allowing other tissues to age. Other hypotheses predict the opposite: tissues related to reproduction will age faster because of selection for early life fitness. This research will examine aging dynamics across life stages and tissues, and in response to stress. Bees are an ideal system to probe the mechanistic underpinnings of extreme differences in lifespan, yielding general insight into regulators of aging. Bee life-cycles are short compared to vertebrates and its possible to examine lifetime patterns of senescence. And, many aspects of cellular senescence are conserved across insects and vertebrates. Investigating how aging dynamics differ among species may lead to new ways of disrupting negative effects of aging. Understanding aging is particularly pressing in a world in which organisms are increasingly exposed to stress and many bee species are in decline. The proposed research will support the training of six graduate students and six undergraduate students. A K-12 learning module on bumble bee spring emergence will be developed as a hands-on lesson to engage Native American high school students in STEM. As part of an ongoing collaboration, informational exhibits and outreach events about pollinators will be developed with the Red River Valley Zoo (Fargo, ND) and Science Kids and Wyoming PBS (Laramie, WY). The objective of the proposed research is to integrate physiology with life history theory to mechanistically explain patterns of aging. Insect metamorphosis may be an extreme version of the disposable soma hypothesis. During metamorphosis, larval tissues are recycled and replaced by imaginal cells with stem cell-like properties, which have the potential to be cellularly “younger” than the tissues they replace. Insect metamorphosis may provide an opportunity to dispose of damaged somatic tissues, mitigating the effects of juvenile exposure to stress. Insect overwintering, also known as diapause, also has important implications for aging. Diapause increases lifespans by six times compared to non-diapausing individuals. This research will determine how metamorphosis and diapause contribute to aging dynamics by examining cellular damage and organismal performance by: 1) determining the relationship between senescence and cellular markers of aging, 2) examining how the disposable soma during metamorphosis influences aging by comparing cellular aging in tissues formed during metamorphosis to those carried over from the larval stage, and 3) assessing whether overwintering dormancy is a slowing down of aging or is regenerative. The proposed research will investigate these dynamics in solitary bees and bumble bees, and will strengthen an already productive collaboration between NDSU, UW, and the USDA-ARS, and greatly extend what is known about the mechanisms that contribute to variation in senescence.This project is jointly funded by the Integrative Ecological Physiology program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.