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

胃肠道寄生线虫强化是一个重要的寄生虫，全球感染了约6亿人。这些寄生虫具有独特的生命周期，非常适合理解复制的遗传和表观遗传基础。强壮的生命周期在寄生的成年女性产生之间交替，该女性产生副异育生成和自由生活的性繁殖男性和女性产生。对女性感染性“ IL3”幼虫（将继续感染新宿主）或幼虫的后代将成年幼虫发育为女性感染力。性繁殖成年人产生的所有后代都是IL3。重要的是，在替代类别中，成年女性在遗传上是相同的，并且都产生IL3后代，为比较生产性策略提供了理想的实验室模型。该项目将调查源自孤雌生殖和性化的成年女性的胚胎的差异，以了解有关生殖生物学的基本原理。我们假设源自不同生殖策略（i）的胚胎在其成为寄生虫的能力上有所不同。成功感染主机。 （ii）在不同级别上表达基因，可转座元件和小的RNA。 （iii）和（ii）直接受环境因素的影响，例如温度，暴露于免疫应激，饮食限制以及它们所暴露的微生物群落的组成。该项目将使用实验室和生物信息学技能结合来检验这些假设。学生将在项目的各个方面进行全面培训，例如寄生虫培养和生物学，测序方法，例如Asrnaseq和Small-Rnaseq，以及对序列数据的生物信息学分析。该学生将受益于拥有多样专业知识的团队。该项目将与Taisei Kikuchi（东京大学）合作进行，该学生将在他们的学习和培训的一部分中享受访问日本的机会。申请人应具有强大的一级学位或对寄生虫学，线虫，生殖生物学和/或遗传学的兴趣的兴趣