Evolution and ecology of parasitism and symbiosis in insects

昆虫寄生与共生的进化与生态学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-03768
• 负责人: Perlman, Steven
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=589369
• 关键词: Evolution; ecology; parasitism; symbiosis; insects

Symbiosis is one of the most important forces shaping life on our planet. A major recent development in biology is the realization that all multicellular organisms harbour symbiotic microbes. These have long been incredibly difficult to study; however, advances in molecular and computational biology have revolutionized our understanding of microbial symbiosis. For example, we are just beginning to disentangle the function of the trillions of microbes that live in the human gut, and their important roles in metabolism, immunity, and development. Indeed, it has been argued that one cannot consider the ecology and evolution of an organism without including its microbiota, viewing the organism as a ‘hologenome’ (i.e. the host’s nuclear, organellar, and symbiont genomes combined).

共生是塑造地球生命的最重要力量之一。最近生物学的一个主要发展是认识到所有多细胞生物都含有共生微生物。长期以来，这些都是非常难以研究的;然而，分子和计算生物学的进步已经彻底改变了我们对微生物共生的理解。例如，我们刚刚开始解开生活在人类肠道中的数万亿微生物的功能，以及它们在新陈代谢，免疫和发育中的重要作用。事实上，有人认为，一个人不能考虑一个生物体的生态和进化，而不包括它的微生物群，将生物体视为一个“全基因组”（即宿主的核，细胞器和共生体基因组的组合）。