ASM Conference on Beneficial Microbes: Host-Microbe Interactions in Health and Di

描述（由申请人提供）：过去几年的研究进展提供了压倒性的证据，证明人类和大多数其他动物的健康取决于它们与持久的、共同进化的微生物群落的联系。这些有益微生物不仅在日常生理稳态中发挥关键作用，而且它们还与宿主的免疫系统合作，成功地抵抗发病机制。在新出现的传染病和复杂的生物武器发展的时代，后一种作用具有越来越重要的意义。由于分子生物学、生物技术、计算生物学、代谢建模和生物信息学方面的最新技术进步，正常微生物群及其与宿主相互作用的研究得以实现，包括元基因组学方法的发展，以确定微生物群落的组成和潜在能力，以及遗传和基因组学方法，以确定它们对宿主生物学的影响深度。ASM有益微生物会议于2005年、2008年和2010年举行，是国际上参加的会议，汇集了从分子遗传学到宏基因组学到系统生物学和生态学等领域的生物学家，讨论这一前沿研究领域的发展。本次会议将于2010年10月25日至29日在佛罗里达州迈阿密举行，由美国微生物学会（ASM）主办，名为“2010年有益微生物会议——健康与疾病中的宿主-微生物相互作用”，为参加会议的美国和国际科学家提供资金支持。会议有六个会议，专门探讨该领域的现状和确定新的研究方向。第一节主要讨论有益微生物如何在宿主的正常发育过程中发挥重要作用。我们接下来的第二组演示描述了我们对宿主-微生物通信和协调的遗传机制的理解的进展。第三次会议突出了会议的一个新焦点：应用计算方法模拟动物复杂微生物群落的生态和进化。由于免疫系统是动物对微生物存在的反应的主要因素，第四届会议致力于探索微生物群在正常免疫功能中的作用，以及允许宿主与其特定共生伙伴之间交流的识别信号。在第五届会议上，我们继续我们的新重点：具体来说，应用宏基因组学和数学模型来预测维持有益关联的复杂相互作用。最后一节展望未来，以及有益的动物-微生物与宿主的相互作用如何在健康和疾病的界面上发挥至关重要的作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research advances over the last several years have provided overwhelming evidence that the health of humans, and likely most other animals, is dependent upon their associations with persistent, coevolved communities of microorganisms. Not only do these consortia of beneficial microbes play a critical role in day-to-day physiological homeostasis, but also they partner with the host's immune system to successfully resist pathogenesis. This latter role has taken on an increasing significance in an age of emerging infectious diseases and sophisticated bioweapons development. Investigation of the normal microbiota and its interactions with the host has been enabled by recent technical advances in molecular biology, biotechnology, computational biology, metabolic modeling, and bioinformatics, including the development of metagenomics methods to identify the constituents and potential capabilities of microbial consortia, and genetic and genomic approaches to determine the depth of their influence on host biology. The ASM Beneficial Microbes Conferences, held in 2005, 2008, and now 2010, are internationally attended meetings that bring together biologists in areas ranging from molecular genetics to metagenomics to systems biology and ecology to discuss the development of this frontier field of research. Funding is requested for the support of United States and international scientists attending the upcoming meeting entitled 'Beneficial Microbes Conference 2010 - Host-Microbe Interactions in Health and Disease' sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), to be held in Miami, Florida, October 25-29, 2010. The meeting has six sessions devoted to exploring the current state of the field and defining new directions of inquiry. The first session focuses on how beneficial microorganisms play an essential role in programming and directing normal development of the host. We follow with a second set of presentations describing advances in our understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying host-microbe communication and coordination. The third session highlights a new focus of the Conference: the application of computational approaches to model the ecology and evolution of the complex microbial consortia of animals. Because the immune system is the major element in an animal's response to the presence of microbes, the fourth session is devoted to exploring the role of the microbiota in normal immune function, and the recognition signals that allow communication between a host and its specific symbiotic partners. In the fifth session, we continue our new focus: specifically, the application of metagenomics and mathematical modeling to predict the complex interactions that maintain beneficial associations. The last session looks to the future, and to how beneficial animal-microbe interactions with the host play a vital role at the interface of health and disease. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Recent research has demonstrated that humans require interactions with thousands of coevolved microbial species for health, and that the activity of these microbes is likely to profoundly affect all aspects of human physiology and immunology. The recognition of this phenomenon is revolutionizing the way biologists and biomedical scientists view the form and function of the human body. 'Beneficial Microbes Conference 2010 - Host-Microbe Interactions in Health and Disease' is an American Society for Microbiology-sponsored meeting devoted to exploring this frontier. The aim of this conference is to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas, and for the development of new approaches and a conceptual synthesis.