DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The impact of ecological traits on the immunogenetic evolution of bats

生物体与环境的相互作用会影响其对疾病的暴露;作为回应，生物体进化出各种免疫反应。然而，很少有人探讨生态学对灵长类动物以外免疫基因进化的影响。在这项研究中，我们将研究生态特征对蝙蝠免疫基因进化的影响。蝙蝠是一个理想的系统，因为作为第二大哺乳动物，它们表现出各种各样的饮食，栖息习惯，群体大小和交配系统，并宿主许多病毒，细菌和真核寄生虫。这项工作将有助于确定哪些生态特征使群体面临最大的疾病风险，并揭示蝙蝠如何在对人类致命的病原体感染中生存下来。这项研究的结果将有助于保护主义者保护受关注的物种及其提供的生态系统服务。研究结果还将直接对公共卫生界有用，并揭示疾病干预研究的潜在目标。研究人员将测试那些经常接触其他蝙蝠或与其他动物接触的蝙蝠的免疫基因是否比那些疾病风险较低（接触较少）的蝙蝠在更大的压力下进化。他们将对来自多个物种的多个免疫基因进行测序，重点是生态多样性的新热带蝙蝠家族Phyllostomidae。使用靶向序列捕获和下一代测序技术，他们将从多个免疫基因中获得信息，这些基因代表先天性和适应性免疫系统以及对病毒和细胞外病原体的反应。收集的遗传信息将与生态数据相结合，同时考虑进化历史，以发现蝙蝠如何进化其免疫力以应对其环境中的病原体。多个免疫基因的检查将允许一个更全面的表征免疫进化比单基因的研究，减少错过积极的选择，不作用于某些基因的风险，并展示在生态相关的免疫遗传进化的一般模式。这项研究揭示的特定的选择下的残留物将成为功能研究的重要目标，蝙蝠和它们的病原体之间的共同进化军备竞赛的确切性质。

How an organism interacts with its environment influences its exposure to disease; in response, organisms have evolved a variety of immune responses. However, there have been few inquiries into the effect of ecology on the evolution of immune genes outside of primates. In this study we will examine the effect of ecological traits on the evolution of immune genes in bats. Bats are an ideal system because, as the second largest mammalian order, they exhibit a wide variety of diets, roost habits, group sizes and mating systems and host numerous viruses, bacteria and eukaryotic parasites. This work will help identify which ecological traits put groups at the greatest disease risk and shed light on how bats survive infection by pathogens that are lethal to humans. The findings of this research will assist conservationists in preserving species of concern and the ecosystem services they provide. The results will also be directly useful to the public health community and reveal potential targets for disease intervention research.The researchers will test whether the immune genes of bats that frequently contact other bats or come into contact with other animals are evolving under greater pressure than those with lower disease risk (less contact). They will sequence multiple immune genes from multiple species, with a focus on the ecologically diverse Neotropical bat family Phyllostomidae. Using targeted sequence capture and next generation sequencing techniques, they will obtain information from multiple immune genes, representing both the innate and adaptive immune system and responses to viruses and extracellular pathogens. The genetic information collected will be combined with ecological data while accounting for evolutionary history to discover how bats have evolved their immunity in response to the pathogens of their environment. The examination of multiple immune genes will allow a more comprehensive characterization of immune evolution than single gene studies, reducing the risk of missing positive selection that does not act on certain genes and demonstrating general patterns in ecologically relevant immunogenetic evolution. The particular residues under selection revealed by this study will become important targets for functional studies into the exact nature of the coevolutionary arms race between bats and their pathogens.