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

催化剂项目支持历史悠久的黑人学院和大学致力于建立教职员工的研究能力，以加强科学、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职员工的研究能力，改善学院的研究和教学，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基于标记基因的和鸟枪式元基因组测序来调查淡水和海洋生态地点线虫和原核生物群落之间的具体联系。该项目将向未被充分代表的少数族裔学生介绍分子技术，同时为他们进入研究生院或进入STEM工作队伍做准备。复杂的生物过程通过生物和非生物成分的相互作用进行。线虫无处不在，可以说是小型动物中种类最多、数量最多的组成部分。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，这在很大程度上仍有待探索。该项目的目标是采用分层的方法来调查这种联系及其对15个线虫分类群的生态影响。最初的、基于系统发育信息的标记基因特征之后，将进行基于鸟枪式元基因组序列的功能分析。与线虫和线虫相关的微生物群落的鸟枪式序列数据将被用来预测群落的功能潜力，方法是通过假定的代谢物图谱，利用已识别的群落的基因和基因家族功能。这将在淡水和海洋环境中物种间和物种内的遗传变异和群落生态相关性的框架内进行。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。

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.