Understanding the genetic basis of reproductive strategy in a parasitic nematode system

了解寄生线虫系统繁殖策略的遗传基础

• 批准号: 2892100
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Bath
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2892100
• 关键词: Understanding; genetic; basis; reproductive; strategy

The gastrointestinal parasitic nematode, Strongyloides, is an important parasite that infects ~600 million people globally.These parasites have a unique lifecycle that is ideally suited to understanding the genetic and epigenetic basis ofreproduction. The Strongyloides lifecycle alternates between a parasitic adult female generation that reproduces byparthenogenesis and a free-living sexually reproducing male and female generation. The offspring of parthenogenic adultsdevelop into female infective 'iL3' larvae (that will go on to infect a new host) or larvae that develop into sexuallyreproducing adults. All offspring produced by sexually reproducing adults are iL3s. Importantly, adult females in alternategenerations are genetically identical, and both produce iL3 offspring, offering an ideal laboratory model to comparereproductive strategies. This project will investigate differences in the embryos derived from parthenogenic and sexuallyreproducing adult females to understand fundamental principles about reproductive biology. We hypothesise that embryos derived from different reproductive strategies (i) differ in their ability to be a parasitee.g. to successfully infect a host. (ii) express genes, transposable elements and small RNAs at different levels. (iii) and(ii) is directly affected by environmental factors such as temperature, exposure to immune stress, dietary restrictions,and composition of microbial communities they are exposed to.This project will test these hypotheses using a combination of laboratory and bioinformatic skills. The student willreceive full training in all aspects of the project such as parasite culturing and biology, sequencing methods such asRNAseq and small-RNAseq, and bioinformatic analysis of sequence data. The student will benefit from a team ofsupervisors with diverse expertise.This project will be carried out in collaboration with Taisei Kikuchi (University of Tokyo), and the student will haveopportunities to visit Japan as part of their studies and training. Applicants should have a strong first degree or masterswith an interest in parasitology, nematodes, reproductive biology and/or genetics

胃肠道寄生线虫类圆线虫是一种重要的寄生虫，全球约有6亿人感染。这些寄生虫具有独特的生命周期，非常适合了解生殖的遗传和表观遗传基础。类圆线虫的生命周期在孤雌生殖的寄生成年雌性世代和自由生活的有性生殖雄性和雌性世代之间交替。孤雌生殖成虫的后代发育成雌性感染性“iL 3”幼虫（将继续感染新的宿主）或发育成有性生殖成虫的幼虫。所有由有性繁殖的成虫产生的后代都是iL 3。重要的是，成年女性在交替世代的基因是相同的，都产生iL 3后代，提供了一个理想的实验室模型来比较生殖策略。本计画将研究单性生殖与有性生殖的成年雌性胚胎的差异，以了解生殖生物学的基本原理。我们假设来自不同生殖策略的胚胎（i）在成为寄生虫的能力上不同。成功感染宿主(ii)在不同水平上表达基因、转座因子和小RNA。(iii)及（ii）直接受环境因素影响，例如温度、免疫压力、饮食限制及所接触的微生物群落组成。本项目将结合实验室和生物信息学技术来检验这些假设。学生将接受项目各个方面的全面培训，如寄生虫培养和生物学，测序方法如RNAseq和small-RNAseq，以及序列数据的生物信息学分析。学生将受益于具有不同专业知识的导师团队。该项目将与大成菊池（东京大学）合作开展，学生将有机会访问日本作为学习和培训的一部分。申请人应具有强大的第一学位或硕士学位，对寄生虫学，线虫，生殖生物学和/或遗传学感兴趣