NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Viral communities in a warming world

这一行动资助了NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。随着气候变化改变全球的温度模式，环境病毒将面临与大型生物相同的挑战。在这项工作中，这位研究员将研究环境噬菌体(噬菌体；感染细菌的病毒)可能会如何受到温度变化的影响。在从不同气候和季节分离出一组土壤细菌和噬菌体菌株后，该研究员将描述它们在不同温度下的生长特征，量化热性能与其他特征之间的关系，并测试病毒如何适应以克服热变化下的灭绝风险。这项工作将确定病毒热性能的自然变化以及对温度的适应限制和机制，这将为预测气候变化对病毒的影响提供信息。鉴于细菌和噬菌体可以在塑造生态系统层面的过程中发挥重要作用，这些结果可能会产生超出微生物群落的广泛影响。这位研究员还将主要通过为代表不足的最后一年研究生提供过渡性指导计划来扩大参与范围。虽然宿主与病毒的相互作用已知是温度相关的，但相对较少的研究集中在了解影响环境病毒热性能的因素上。这项研究试图通过对新型土壤细菌和噬菌体分离株的热性能的观察和实验研究来解决这一差距。将在两个季节(夏季和冬季)在两个地点(亚热带和温带气候)进行分离，以确定病毒热性能如何在时间和空间上发生变化。然后，这位研究员将通过实验进化病毒，以适应生物(细菌宿主)和非生物(热)条件的变化。为了确定适应的动力学和机制，实验进化之后将进行群体和个体水平的测序和表型分析。这位研究员将在环境微生物分离、热反应规范的测量以及在整个实验进化过程中产生和解释分子数据方面进行培训。除了过渡指导计划，这项工作还将通过研究员承诺平等获得研究机会和实验室中不同群体的指导，以及参与当地社区的外展工作来扩大参与。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. As climate change alters temperature patterns across the globe, environmental viruses will face the same challenges as macroorganisms. In this work, the Fellow will investigate how environmental bacteriophages (phages; viruses that infect bacteria) may be impacted by changing temperatures. After isolating a set of soil bacteria and phage strains from different climates and seasons, the Fellow will characterize their growth at different temperatures, quantify relationships between thermal performance and other traits, and test how viruses can adapt to overcome extinction risk under thermal change. This work will determine natural variation in viral thermal performance as well as constraints and mechanisms of adaptation to temperature, which will inform predictions of climate change impacts on viruses. Given the important role that bacteria and phages can play in shaping ecosystem-level processes, these results may have broad implications beyond microbial communities. The Fellow will also broaden participation primarily through a transitional mentoring program for underrepresented, final-year graduate students.While host-virus interactions are known to be temperature-dependent, relatively little research has focused on understanding the factors that shape thermal performance in environmental viruses. This research seeks to address this gap through observational and experimental studies of thermal performance in novel soil bacteria and phage isolates. Isolations will be done in two seasons (summer and winter) at two sites (subtropical and temperate climates) to determine how viral thermal performance varies across time and space. The Fellow will then experimentally evolve the viruses to adapt to changes in biotic (bacterial hosts) and abiotic (thermal) conditions. To determine the dynamics and mechanisms of adaptation, experimental evolution will be followed by population and individual-level sequencing and phenotypic assays. The Fellow will be trained in environmental microbe isolation, measurement of thermal reaction norms, and the generation and interpretation of molecular data throughout experimental evolution. In addition to the transitional mentoring program, this work will broaden participation through the Fellow’s commitment to equitable access to research opportunities and mentorship of diverse groups in the lab, as well as engagement with outreach efforts in the local community.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.