RoL: Collaborative Research: When a pathogen becomes a mutualist: discovery, evolution and rules that govern function and acquisition in wasp-viral symbiosis

最近的发现表明，病毒与其宿主的共生关系普遍存在，给宿主带来重大利益，并在地球上生命的进化中发挥了重要作用。因此，了解这些病毒关联是如何进化的，对于全面了解生物多样性的进化至关重要。寄生蜂（在其他昆虫体内生长并杀死其他昆虫的黄蜂）是了解病毒共生进化的天然实验室，因为它们高度多样化，并与病毒不断进化。这些病毒能够抑制被寄生蜂寄生的昆虫宿主的免疫防御机制，使寄生蜂得以生存和繁殖。寄生蜂是危害森林和农作物的害虫的天敌，为社会带来了巨大的经济效益。这个项目调查了地球上最惊人的辐射之一的进化和相互作用（bronid parasitoid wasp，有19000种）和它们的共生病毒的巨大的未开发的多样性。长期目标是了解控制病毒、黄蜂和黄蜂宿主之间联系的规则。该研究项目在几个方面促进了知识的发展：(1)在生命之树的两个研究较少的领域——病毒和黄蜂中发现了新的生物多样性；(2)确定黄蜂-病毒共生的进化史和年龄；(3)发现病毒共生的预测性基因组特征，以了解控制这些相互作用的规则；(4)病毒功能表征；(5)生成公开可用的基因组数据。这项工作将极大地改变对共生病毒进化的理解，这将提供有关病毒进化的一般信息。研究人员将通过与当地学校的教师密切合作，开发新的教育资源，将黄蜂和病毒研究与教育和公众宣传结合起来。此外，该项目将改善STEM教育和教育工作者的发展，提高公众对STEM的素养和参与度。该项目整合了系统发育，功能和基因组学方法，以发现控制病毒和黄蜂之间互惠关系的规则，反过来，这些寄生蜂和它们的宿主之间的相互作用。总体目标是利用新的DNA分析方法解决和确定小蜂科黄蜂家族的进化关系，发现哪些黄蜂谱系与互惠病毒及其驯化时间有关，确定病毒如何影响黄蜂与其宿主之间的拮抗相互作用，并检查与病毒互惠相关的基因组特征。研究人员的目标是：(1)为地球上最多样化的谱系之一（19,000个物种）确定深层和浅层节点并确定日期；(2)发现并表征了苞虫科病毒共生的多重起源；(3)破译病毒共生体在拟寄生蜂及其寄主生物学中的作用。拓展计划有两个主要组成部分：1)为当地K-12教师提供实验室研究实习，使他们能够学习新的研究技术，从而提高他们的教学水平；2)利用沉浸式虚拟现实和动画体验来吸引公众，促进本科教育的学习。研究人员还将为系统发育、功能和比较基因组学以及修正系统学等学科的代表性不足的学员（2名博士后、7名本科生和2名研究生）提供综合研究和培训机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Recent discoveries have shown that symbiotic relationships of viruses with their hosts are pervasive, confer major benefits to their hosts, and have played a major role in the evolution of life on earth. Understanding how these viral associations evolve is thus essential for a holistic view on the evolution of a broad diversity of organisms. Parasitoid wasps (wasps that grow within and kill other insects) are a natural laboratory for understanding the evolution of viral symbiosis because they are highly diverse and have evolved repeated associations with viruses. These viruses are able to suppress the immune defense mechanisms of the insect hosts that are parasitized by the wasps, enabling the wasps to survive and reproduce. Parasitoid wasps also provide substantial economic benefits to society because they are natural enemies of insect pests that cause damage to forests and agricultural crops. This project investigates the evolution and interactions between one of the most astonishing radiations on Earth (braconid parasitoid wasps, with 19,000 species) and the massive untapped diversity of their symbiotic viruses. The long-term goal is to understand the rules that govern the associations of the viruses, the wasps, and the hosts of the wasps. This research project advances knowledge in several ways: (1) discovery of new biodiversity in two poorly studied areas of the tree of life--viruses and wasps; (2) resolution of the evolutionary history and age of wasp-viral symbioses; (3) discovery of predictive genomic traits for viral symbiosis to understand the rules that govern these interactions; (4) characterization of the function of viruses; and (5) generating publicly available genome data. The proposed work will substantially transform understanding of symbiotic viral evolution, which will provide general information about virus evolution. The researchers will integrate wasp and viral research with education and public outreach by working closely with teachers in local schools and developing new educational resources. Furthermore, the program will improve STEM education and educator development and increase public literacy and engagement in STEM.This project integrates phylogenetic, functional, and genomics approaches to discover the rules that govern mutualistic associations between viruses and wasps and, in turn, the interactions between these parasitoid wasps and their hosts. The overall objectives are to resolve and date the evolutionary relationships of the wasp family Braconidae using new methods of DNA analysis, discover which wasp lineages are associated with mutualistic viruses and the timing of their domestication, determine how viruses affect the antagonistic interactions between the wasps and their hosts, and examine genome features related to viral mutualism. The researchers aim to: (1) Resolve and date deep and shallow nodes for one of the most diverse lineages (19,000 species) on Earth; (2) Discover and characterize the multiple origins of viral symbiosis in Braconidae; and (3) decipher the roles of viral symbionts in the biology of the parasitoid wasps and their hosts. The outreach plan has two main components: 1) Providing research internships in the lab for local K-12 teachers so that they may learn new research techniques that will improve their teaching; and 2) using immersive virtual reality and animation experiences to engage the public and enhance learning in undergraduate education. The researchers will also provide integrated research and training opportunities to underrepresented mentees (2 postdoctoral researchers, 7 undergraduate and 2 graduate students) across the disciplines of phylogenetics, functional and comparative genomics, and revisionary systematics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.