The enemy within: evolution and diversification of parasitoid flies

拟寄生物有一种独特的生存策略，它介于捕食者和真正的寄生虫之间，它们以最终被杀死的单个寄主个体为食。它们在生态系统服务、害虫种群控制方面发挥着核心作用，并对人类产生相当大的经济和医疗影响。这些生物是高度多样化和专业化的，因为它们完全依赖于宿主，必须克服宿主的防御和免疫。虽然已有成千上万的研究调查了拟寄生物在农业害虫生物防治中的作用，但只有少数研究探讨了拟寄生物在寄主关联中的适应和进化过程的意义。因此，寄主偏好是如何进化的，以及它如何影响寄生蜂的多样化，目前还不清楚。我的长期研究目标是揭示拟寄生物的多样化、进化适应和寄主亲和力，并利用这些知识来探索性状进化与生态专业化之间的相互作用。由于类群内寄生性的反复独立进化，果蝇是研究这一复杂生活史进化的最佳模型之一。在未来的五年里，我将重点关注三个短期目标：(1)确定拟寄生蝇谱系的祖先生活史；（ii）研究拟寄生蝇的关键呼吸创新及其在谱系多样化和生活史进化中的意义；（iii）探索拟寄生蝇的生态、行为和表型适应及其对寄主专业化的影响。我的研究计划将利用高通量测序的现代进展，结合博物馆组学的前景和新的比较方法，探索生态和表型适应之间的相互作用及其对苍蝇多样化、寄主关联和专业化进化的意义。这个项目将回答有关物种特征与专业化进化之间联系的基本问题，同时拓宽我们对昆虫独立谱系获得寄生性生活史的进化机制的理解。该计划的数据驱动和以收集为重点的方法将批判性地告知我们对生物多样性和影响生物多样性维护的因素的理解，这在人类世时代至关重要。这项研究不仅将扩大我们对苍蝇多样性、进化、多样化和自然史的认识，而且还将培养三名博士、一名硕士和两名学士，掌握最先进的分析和统计技术，这些技术跨越昆虫学、基因组学、生物信息学和进化生物学等学科，被学术界、政府部门和工业界认为是非常需要的技能。

Parasitoids have a unique life-strategy that is an intermediary between predators and true parasites, in which they feed on a single host individual that is ultimately killed. They play a central role in ecosystem services, pest population control, and have considerable economic and medical impact to humans. These organisms are highly diverse and specialized, as they are completely dependent on the host and have to overcome its defenses and immunity. Although thousands of studies have investigated the role of parasitoid insects in the biological control of agricultural pests, only a handful have explored the significance of parasitoid adaptations and evolutionary processes in their host associations. Therefore, it is still unclear how host preference evolves and how it influences parasitoid diversification. The long-term goal of my research program is to unravel the diversification, evolutionary adaptations, and host affinities of parasitoid insects, and use this knowledge to explore the interplay between trait evolution and ecological specialization. Due to the repeated independent evolution of parasitoidy within the group, flies represent one the best models to investigate the evolution of this complex life history. In the next five years, I will focus on three short-term objectives: (i) determine the ancestral life histories of parasitoid fly lineages; (ii) investigate the key respiratory innovations of parasitoid flies and their significance to lineage diversification and life history evolution; and (iii) explore the ecological, behavioural, and phenotypic adaptations of parasitoid flies and their consequences to host specialization. My research program will use modern advances in high-throughput sequencing, combined with the prospects of museomics and new comparative methods, to explore the interplay between ecological and phenotypic adaptations and their significance to fly diversification, host associations, and the evolution of specialization. This program will answer fundamental questions about linking species' traits to the evolution of specialization, while broadening our understanding of the evolutionary mechanisms by which independent lineages of insects acquired parasitoid life histories. The data-driven and collections-focused approach of this program will critically inform our understanding of organismal diversity and the factors influencing biodiversity maintenance, essential in the Anthropocene age. This research will not only expand our knowledge of fly diversity, evolution, diversification, and natural history, but also train three PhD, one MSc, and two BSc students in state-of-the-art analytical and statistical techniques that cut across the disciplines of entomology, genomics, bioinformatics, and evolutionary biology, and are considered highly desirable skills in the academic, governmental, and industry sectors.