DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Functional Genetics and Parasite Community Ecology in a Keystone Species

野生动物面临着来自新兴病原体的日益严重的威胁，其中许多病原体也会导致人类疾病。 遗传多样性在缓冲种群免受寄生虫和病原体影响方面发挥着核心作用。 分离与疾病易感性直接相关的基因并了解这些基因如何进化的能力对于设计成功且具有成本效益的保护计划非常重要。 绝大多数对野生动物的此类研究都集中在单一病原体与一两个研究充分的免疫系统基因之间的关系上。 该项目超越了单病原体单基因的方法，通过调查六个免疫系统基因的多样性和黑尾草原犬鼠的整个寄生虫群落之间的关系。 这项研究还将提供对短草草原长期生态研究站点上黑尾草原犬鼠寄生虫的首次全面调查，并将确定黑尾草原犬鼠是否是西尼罗河病毒的宿主。 草原犬是北美草原的重要组成部分，但在整个范围内都有所下降，主要是因为引入了导致鼠疫的病原体鼠疫耶尔森氏菌。 鉴于草原土拨鼠的社会行为，它们是研究鼠疫等疾病的传播和抵抗力进化的绝佳模型。 除了促进对抗病性的理解外，该项目还将为研究人员和管理人员提供重要信息，并为一名研究生和50多名本科生提供实验室和实地研究方法的培训。

Wildlife face ever-increasing threats from emerging pathogens, many of which also cause disease in humans. Genetic diversity plays a central role in buffering populations against the effects of parasites and pathogens. The ability to isolate genes related directly to disease susceptibility and understanding how those genes evolve is important for designing successful and cost-effective conservation programs. The vast majority of such studies in wildlife have focused on the relationship between a single pathogen and one or two well-studied immune system genes. This project goes beyond the single-pathogen single-gene approach by investigating the relationship between diversity in six immune system genes and the entire parasite community of black-tailed prairie dogs. This research will also provide the first comprehensive survey of black-tailed prairie dog parasites on the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research site, and will determine if black-tailed prairie dogs are a host for West Nile virus. Prairie dogs are an important component of North American grasslands, but have declined throughout their range, primarily because of the introduced pathogen Yersinia pestis, which causes plague. Given the social behavior of prairie dogs, they are an excellent model for studying transmission and evolution of resistance for disease like plague. In addition to advancing the understanding of disease resistance, this project will generate important information for researchers and managers, and provide one graduate student and over 50 undergraduate students with training in laboratory and field research methods.