Collaborative Research: Infection Decisions by Insect-Parasitic Nematodes

寄生虫感染阶段在进行感染前评估潜在宿主的适宜性。传统上，寄主被认为是一个静态的实体，但通常不止一个个体感染一个寄主。随着宿主感染的进展，宿主作为感染阶段寄生虫资源的价值发生变化。因此，宿主与寄生虫的相互作用是动态的，预计感染阶段在感染过程的不同点对宿主的反应不同。本研究的目的是解释昆虫寄生线虫与宿主之间的行为相互作用。具体来说，寄生虫感染阶段的行为（宿主吸引和渗透）如何受到感染过程中挥发性宿主线索和接触宿主线索变化的影响。然后，寄生虫根据这些线索做出的决定的适应性结果将被确定。最后，将解释寄生虫如何决定是否感染宿主，以及这些决定的成本和收益如何影响寄生虫的成功。本研究的影响包括：1)提高了对寄生虫/宿主关系的理解；2)提高了昆虫-寄生线虫作为昆虫生物防治剂的可预测性；3)增加了代表性不足群体的本科生进行研究的机会；4)发展了昆虫-寄生线虫/宿主关联作为高级本科课程的教学工具。

Parasite infective stages evaluate a potential host for its suitability before committing to infection. A host has traditionally been regarded as a static entity, but more than one individual often infects a single host. As the infection in a host progresses, the value of the host as a resource to an infective stage parasite changes. Thus, host-parasite interactions are dynamic and infective stages are predicted to respond differently to hosts at different points in the infection process. The objective of this research is to explain behavioral interactions between insect-parasitic nematodes and their hosts. Specifically, how parasite infective stage behavior (host attraction and penetration) is affected by changes in volatile host cues and contact host cues during the course of infection will be addressed. Then, the fitness consequences of decisions based upon these cues by the parasites will be determined. Ultimately, how parasites decide whether or not to infect a host, and how the costs and benefits of decisions influence parasite success, will be explained. The impact of this research includes: 1) improved understanding of parasite/host relationships, 2) increased predictability of insect-parasitic nematodes as biological control agents for insects, 3) increased opportunities for undergraduate students of underrepresented groups to conduct research, 4) development of insect-parasitic nematode/host association as a teaching tool for advanced undergraduate courses.