CAREER: Symbiotic Role of Bacterial Bioluminescence

所有健康的动植物都有一个常驻的微生物区系，细菌和宿主之间的联系影响着双方的发育和生态成功。该项目的研究目的将促进我们对宿主-细菌相互作用的理解，并将为在与细菌在环境中的生存相关的环境--其自然动物宿主中--的细菌生理学的实验室研究提供一个新的机会。本研究利用生物发光细菌费氏弧菌与夜行鱿鱼Euprymna scolope之间的易驯化发光器官共生作为模式系统，以阐明细菌生物发光的功能作用。从理论上讲，生物发光在能量上是昂贵的，因为它消耗氧气和降低功率，否则可能会被用来通过呼吸产生能量。与这一理论一致，生物发光会减缓细菌在培养中的生长。然而，生物发光在寄主相关的海洋细菌中很常见，如费氏弧菌，它使费氏弧菌能够完全定植在宿主的光器官中。该项目的研究重点将测试宿主中生物发光的可能好处，并揭示宿主和培养中的细菌生理学之间的关键差异。该项目的教学目标是通过开设一门新课程《细菌共生》，整合有益和致病宿主-细菌相互作用的概念，并通过本科生实验室研究项目，拓宽学生在宿主-细菌相互作用领域的学习机会。研究和教学计划的发展，阐明自然细菌-宿主相互作用的生理基础，将在面临诸如广谱抗生素的替代和环境宿主(重新)出现疾病等当前社会问题时至关重要。

All healthy plants and animals have a resident microbiota, and the associations between bacteria and their hosts influence the development and ecological success of both partners. The research aim of this project will advance our understanding of host-bacteria interactions and will provide a novel opportunity for lab-based studies of bacterial physiology in a context that is relevant to bacterial survival in the environment -- in its natural animal host. This research exploits the tractable light organ symbiosis between the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri and the nocturnal squid Euprymna scolopes as a model system to elucidate the functional role of bacterial bioluminescence. Theoretically, bioluminescence is energetically expensive, because it consumes oxygen and reducing power, which might otherwise be used to generate energy through respiration. Consistent with this theory, bioluminescence slows bacterial growth in culture. However, bioluminescence is common in host-associated marine bacteria like V. fischeri, and it enables V. fischeri to fully-colonize the host light organ. The research focus of this project will test possible benefits of bioluminescence in the host and reveal key differences between bacterial physiology in the host and in culture. The teaching aim of this project will broaden the learning opportunities for students in the field of host-bacteria interactions through the establishment of a new course, "Bacterial Symbioses", which integrates concepts in beneficial and pathogenic host-bacteria interactions, and through undergraduate laboratory research projects. The development of research and teaching programs that elucidate the physiological underpinnings of natural bacteria-host interactions will be pivotal in facing such current societal problems as the replacement of broad spectrum antibiotics and the (re)emergence of diseases with environmental hosts.