Catalyst Award: Exploring Free Living Nematode Microbiome through Marker Gene-Based and Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing of Single Nematodes

Catalyst项目为历史上的黑人学院和大学提供支持，以建立教师的研究能力，加强科学、技术、工程和数学本科教育和研究。预计该奖项将进一步提高教师的研究能力，提高学院的研究和教学水平，并让本科生参与研究经验。伊丽莎白城市州立大学的这个项目将使用标记基因和霰弹枪宏基因组测序来研究淡水和海洋生态遗址中线虫和原核生物群落之间的特定联系。该项目将向未被充分代表的少数民族学生介绍分子技术，同时为他们进入研究生院或进入STEM劳动力做好准备。复杂的生物过程是通过生物和非生物组分的相互作用进行的。线虫无处不在，可以说是最多样化和数量上占主导地位的组成部分。它们与最多样化的原核生物群体的密切联系将在沉积物生态过程中发挥关键作用，然而，这在很大程度上仍未被探索。该项目的目标是采用分层的方法来调查这种关联及其在15个线虫分类群中的生态意义。一个初始的，系统发育信息标记基因为基础的特征将被霰弹枪宏基因组序列为基础的功能分析。线虫相关微生物群落的散弹枪序列数据将通过假定的代谢物谱，利用已知关联的基因和基因家族功能来预测群落功能潜力。这将在淡水和海洋环境中种间和种内遗传变异和群落生态相关性的框架内进行。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to work towards establishing research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution, and involve undergraduate students in research experiences. This project at Elizabeth City State University will investigate the specific associations between nematodes and prokaryote communities in freshwater and marine ecological sites using marker gene-based and shotgun metagenomics sequencing. The project will introduce underrepresented minority students to molecular techniques, while preparing them for graduate school or entry into the STEM workforce.Complex biological processes are carried out through interactions of biotic and abiotic components. Nematodes are ubiquitous and arguably the most diverse and numerically dominant component of the meiofauna. Their close association with the most diverse group, the prokaryotes, would play a critical role in sediment ecological processes, however, this remains largely unexplored. The goal of the project is to employ a tiered approach to investigate this association and its ecological implications in 15 nematode taxa. An initial, phylogenetically informative marker gene-based characterization will be followed by shotgun metagenomic sequence-based functional analysis. Shotgun sequence data of nematodes & associated microbial communities will be used to predict community functional potential using gene and gene family functionality of recognized associations through putative metabolite profiles. This will be in the framework of inter- and intraspecific genetic variations and community ecological relevance in freshwater and marine environments.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.