From Cells to Societies: Mechanisms by Which Microbial Parasites Control Host Phenotypes

从细胞到社会：微生物寄生虫控制宿主表型的机制

• 批准号: 9010098
• 负责人: Danny Ziyi Chen
• 金额: $ 35.52万
• 依托单位: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-02-01 至 2021-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9010098
• 关键词: Acoustics; Affect; Algorithms; Animal Behavior; Animals; Ants; Behavior; Behavior Control; Birds; Bite; Brain; Brazil; Cardiovascular system; Cell model; Cells; Collaborations; Complex; Computer Simulation; Computer Vision Systems; Computers; Control Animal; Data; Diffusion; Engineering; Ensure; Face; Fishes; Floor; Gene Expression; Goals; Head; Human; Imagery; Lead; Left; Longitudinal Studies; Machine Learning; Measurement; Measures; Mechanics; Microbe; Modeling; Movement; Muscle; Parasite Control; Parasites; Phenotype; Positioning Attribute; Production; Reproduction spores; Research; Research Personnel; Role; Scanning Electron Microscopy; Scientist; Site; Social Behavior; Societies; System; Technology; Testing; Time; Work; acoustic imaging; base; behavior measurement; biological systems; cancer cell; cell behavior; computational network modeling; data modeling; forest; fungus; insight; killings; microbial; model development; nanoscale; public health relevance; research study; social; success; three-dimensional modeling; tool; transmission process

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Microbes can be social. In some groups of microbes that have parasitic lifecycles the social behavior of the many microbial cells can lead to the precise control of the animal they infect. The microbes orchestrate within the body and coordinate to form interactions that are as impressive as any other collective behavior from fish shoals to flocks of birds to ant trails. In some biological systems the manipulated animal is an ant and therefore belongs to its own collective, the colony. In our system we study the `zombie-ant' fungi (Ophiocordyceps) of tropical and temperate forests, which precisely control ants to leave their nest and bite into vegetation directly over the foraging trails of the colony. The function of such altered behavior becomes apparent when the fungus kills the ant and grows a stalk from its head that shoots out spores that infect other ants. The goal of this application is o develop models of such complex collective behavior by fungi controlling ants. We will develop computational and physical diffusion models of the development of the fungal collective, within its ant host. We will use high throughput Scanning Electron Microscopy of ant muscles and computer vision algorithms to develop 3D computational models and accurate networks of cells. We will perform micro-acoustic fluidic experiments to measure fungal behavior and develop physical diffusion models of the emergence of collective behavior. At the macroscopic scale we will measure infected ant behavior in the forest and build agent-based models to determine the rules explaining the effective targeting of ant trails by the fungal collective using the ant as a vehicle. Finally, we will perform experiments to understand the role of competition for the social behavior of microbes. This work is a collaboration among David Hughes, an expert of animal behavior and parasites, Ephraim Hanks, an expert on models of animal behavior, Danny Chen, a computer scientist expert in 3D models of cells, Francesco Costanzo, a theoretical mechanical expert in physical diffusion models and Tony Huang, an engineer expert in micro-acoustic fluidic experiments. Extensive collaboration already exists among the five researchers and four of the five occupy the same building at Penn State, ensuring an easy collaboration.

 描述（由申请人提供）：微生物可以是社会性的。在某些具有寄生生命周期的微生物群体中，许多微生物细胞的社会行为可以导致对它们感染的动物的精确控制。微生物在体内协调一致，形成相互作用，这种相互作用就像任何其他集体行为一样令人印象深刻，从鱼群到鸟群再到蚂蚁踪迹。在某些生物系统中，被操纵的动物是一只蚂蚁，因此属于它自己的集体，即殖民地。在我们的系统中，我们研究了热带和温带森林中的“蚂蚁”真菌（Ophiocorphic），它们精确地控制蚂蚁离开巢穴，直接咬到殖民地觅食小径上的植被上。当真菌杀死蚂蚁并从其头部长出一根茎杆，从而射出孢子感染其他蚂蚁时，这种改变行为的功能就变得明显了。这个应用程序的目标是通过真菌控制蚂蚁来开发这种复杂的集体行为的模型。我们将开发计算和物理扩散模型的真菌集体的发展，在其蚂蚁主机。我们将使用蚂蚁肌肉的高通量扫描电子显微镜和计算机视觉算法来开发3D计算模型和精确的细胞网络。我们将进行微声流体实验来测量真菌的行为，并开发集体行为出现的物理扩散模型。在宏观尺度上，我们将测量受感染的蚂蚁在森林中的行为，并建立基于代理的模型，以确定解释真菌集体使用蚂蚁作为车辆的有效目标蚂蚁踪迹的规则。最后，我们将进行实验，以了解竞争对微生物社会行为的作用。这项工作是动物行为和寄生虫专家大卫休斯，动物行为模型专家Ephraim Hanks，细胞3D模型计算机科学家专家Danny Chen，物理扩散模型理论力学专家Francesco Costanzo和微声流体实验工程师专家Tony Huang的合作。五名研究人员之间已经存在广泛的合作，其中四人在宾夕法尼亚州立大学的同一栋大楼里，确保了轻松的合作。