BII-DESIGN: Defining the point of no return in microbe mediated symbioses

微生物与植物或微生物与动物之间的相互作用是常见的。在许多情况下，双方都从这些互动中受益，因为它们相互依赖，随着时间的推移，它们的互动变得不可逆转。这个项目将汇集研究人员在一系列系统(包括植物和真菌、真菌、真菌蚂蚁、具有内共生肠道微生物的蟑螂、食肉猪笼草)中使用一系列研究工具(如测量养分交换、信号和化学通信、基因组方法和数学模型)，以便他们能够为开发预测不归路点的模型奠定基础：在这一点上，系统中的单个物种失去独立于伴侣发挥作用的能力。通过在这些系统的多样性中寻找联系，我们希望更好地理解导致伙伴依赖发展的因素。该项目的一个主要成果将是制定三个级别的培训方案。将为哥伦布市麦德龙高中的学生开展外展和培训。这所多元化的城市学校吸引着对STEM领域感兴趣的有才华的高中生。培训活动将包括附属实验室的暑期研究项目。为俄亥俄州立大学的本科生和研究生提供培训方案，并举办两次讲习班，一次是为俄亥俄州地区大学的教职员工和学生举办的，另一次是为来自HBCU和HSIS的人员举办的。这个项目将开发一个生物学整合研究所的应用程序，该应用程序试图确定推动微生物共生超过无法回到伙伴依赖的点的因素。当共生体需要与伙伴建立联系才能成功繁殖时，伙伴依赖就会发生，这代表了一种重大的进化转变。共生体是复杂的适应性系统，其模式产生于伙伴之间的相互作用和反应，以及伙伴关系与其他生物体之间的相互作用。共生体的发展依赖于生物体水平以下的交流，通常由伙伴内部的分子和细胞反应驱动，但这种联系的优势可能与群落和生态系统的相互作用有关，伙伴适应和反应的过程受进化力量的支配。了解和预测类群内部和之间的依赖模式和其他现象，需要了解这些系统的进化和生态动态。虽然这份设计提案关注的是过程而不是产品，但我们希望产生的合成论文将建立跨规模的联系，并为未来的理论发展和经验系统的工作奠定基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Interactions between microbes and plants or microbes and animals are common. In many cases, both parties benefit from these interactions to the extent that they are dependent on one another and over time their interaction becomes irreversible. This project will bring together researchers working with a range of investigatory tools (such as measuring nutrient exchange, signaling and chemical communication, genomic approach, and mathematical modeling) in a range of systems (including plants and mycorrizal fungi, fungus growing ants, cockroaches with endosymbiontic gut microbes, carnivorous pitcher plants) so that they can lay the groundwork for developing a model that predicts the point of no return: that point at which the individual species in the system lose the ability to function independent of their partner. By seeking connections across the diversity of these systems, we hope to better understand the factors that lead to the development of partner dependence. A major outcome of the project will be the development of training programs at three levels. Outreach and training will be developed for students at Metro High School in Columbus. This diverse urban school serves as a magnet for talented high school students with an interested in STEM fields. Training activities will include summer research projects in affiliated labs. A training program for undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio State University, and hold two workshops, one for faculty and students at regional universities in Ohio and one for people from HBCUs and HSIs. This project will develop a Biology Integration Institute application that seeks to determine the factors that push microbial symbioses past the point of no return to partner dependence. Partner dependence, which occurs when a symbiont requires an association with a partner for successful reproduction, represents a major evolutionary transition. Symbioses are complex adaptive systems, in which patterns emerge from the interactions and responses among partners and interactions between the partnership and other organisms. The development of symbioses relies on communication below the level of the organism and is often driven by molecules and cellular responses within the partners, but the advantages of the association may relate to community and ecosystem interactions, and the processes by which the partners adapt and respond are governed by evolutionary forces. Understanding and predicting the patterns of dependence and other phenomena within and across taxa requires understanding the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of these systems. While this Design proposal is focused on process instead of products, we expect to produce synthetic papers that will make connections across scales and lay the groundwork for future theory development and work in empirical systems.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.