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

催化剂项目为历史上的黑人学院和大学提供支持，努力建立教师的研究能力，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师的研究能力，改善研究和教学机构，并参与本科生的研究经验。伊丽莎白城州立大学的这个项目将使用基于标记基因和鸟枪宏基因组测序来调查淡水和海洋生态地点中线虫和原核生物群落之间的特定关联。该项目将向代表性不足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工作队伍做好准备。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，可以说是小型底栖动物中最多样化和数量最多的组成部分。它们与最多样化的原核生物群体密切相关，将在沉积物生态过程中发挥关键作用，然而，这在很大程度上尚未探索。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个线虫类群的生态意义。最初的，基于遗传学信息标记基因的表征将随后进行基于鸟枪宏基因组序列的功能分析。将使用线虫相关微生物群落的鸟枪序列数据，通过推定的代谢产物谱，使用公认关联的基因和基因家族功能来预测群落功能潜力。这将是在种内和种间的遗传变异和社区的淡水和海洋环境的生态相关性的框架。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.