BII: Regional OneHealth Aerobiome Discovery Network (BROADN)

这个项目将探索生活在空气中的微生物的基本细节，即需氧菌群。人类、其他动物和植物的健康依赖于大量在生物表面定居的微生物群落。土壤和水也是如此，微生物影响着这些环境的健康和生产力。相比之下，对大气中发现的微生物生命的研究还不够深入，尽管我们知道微生物可以在空气中移动，发挥重要的生态功能，并提供疾病传播途径。例如，许多动植物的病原体通过空气传播，云中发现的某些细菌能够影响降水模式。由于与研究该系统相关的技术挑战，有关需氧菌群的关键知识差距仍然存在。组成生物整合研究所：区域OneHealth有氧生物群发现网络(BROADN)的跨学科团队将研究季节性、天气模式和环境压力(如干旱、集约化农业和火灾)如何改变空气中的微生物种群。该项目还将调查微生物如何在陆地表面和大气之间移动，以及哪些特性允许一些生物在大气中生存。与区域伙伴的合作，包括为农村第一代学生服务的第一前进机构和西班牙裔服务机构，将让学生参与样本收集和分析，揭示空气中令人着迷的看不见的生物学。这些和其他教育项目将打破学科障碍，教育下一代生物学家，并将向K-12学生和公众分享对需氧菌群的见解。对大气中微生物生命周期的新理解有望导致针对关键挑战的创新解决方案，如病原体的传播、干旱适应和陆地生物多样性的丧失。BROADN将与全球大气微生物组项目(GAMP)、NSF赞助的国家生态观测网络(NEON)和联合基因组研究所(JGI)合作，组织对需氧菌群状态和通量的严格大气采样，并对存在于需氧菌群中的遗传多样性分类群进行生物信息学分析。随着时间的推移，将在不同高度收集重点区域需氧菌样本，并结合详细的实验室分析和气象测量。环境试验室将用于具体的假设检验。所产生的数据将为发现有氧生物群的结构和功能提供基础，由此产生的洞察力将用于将有氧生物群动态与陆地生态系统属性联系起来的模型的参数化。生物信息学和转录组分析与数学建模相结合，将揭示需氧菌群的微生物组成；它对天气模式、人为干扰和物理力量变化的反应；导致微生物放样、运输和生存的特征；以及气溶胶微生物的代谢活动和基因组属性。此外，BROADN将在这一新兴领域提供国际领先地位，并为需氧菌群的测量和评估设定全球标准。该项目将发展基本的理解，以推动解决动植物病原体空中运输的方案，并了解需氧菌群在保护生态系统健康方面的生态作用。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 project will explore fundamental details about microbes that live in the air, the aerobiome. The health of humans, other animals, and plants depends upon vast communities of microorganisms that colonize living surfaces. The same is true in soil and water, where microorganisms influence the health and productivity of those environments. In contrast, microbial life found in the atmosphere is understudied, even though we know that microorganisms can move through the air, serving vital ecological functions as well as providing disease transmission pathways. For example, many pathogens of animals and plants are spread via the air, and certain bacteria that are found in clouds are capable of influencing precipitation patterns. Key knowledge gaps about the aerobiome remain due to the technical challenges associated with studying this system. The interdisciplinary team constituting the Biology Integration Institute: Regional OneHealth Aerobiome Discovery Network (BROADN) will study how airborne microbial populations are altered by seasonality, weather patterns, and environmental stresses such as drought, intensive agriculture, and fire. This project will also investigate how microbes move between the land surface and the atmosphere, and what properties allow some organisms to survive in the atmosphere. Collaboration with regional partners, including a First Forward Institution serving rural first-generation students and a Hispanic Serving Institution will involve students in sample collection and analyses, revealing the fascinating unseen biology of the air. These and other educational programs will break down disciplinary barriers to educate the next generation of biologists and will share insights about the aerobiome to K-12 students and the public. The new understanding of the life cycles of microbes in the atmospheres is anticipated to lead to innovative solutions to key challenges such as the spread of pathogens, drought adaptation, and loss of terrestrial biodiversity. BROADN will partner with the Global Atmospheric Microbiome Project (GAMP), the NSF-sponsored National Ecological Observation Network (NEON), and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) to organize rigorous atmospheric sampling of aerobiome states and fluxes, and to conduct bioinformatics analysis of the genetically diverse taxa that exist in the aerobiome. Focused regional aerobiome samples will be collected over time at different altitudes and coupled with detailed laboratory analyses and meteorological measurements. Environmental chambers will be used for specific hypothesis testing. Data generated will provide the basis for discoveries of aerobiome structure and function, with the resulting insight used to parameterize models that relate aerobiome dynamics to terrestrial ecosystem properties. Bioinformatics and transcriptomic analysis coupled with mathematical modeling will reveal the microbial composition of the aerobiome; its response to changes in weather patterns, anthropogenic disturbances, and physical forces; the characteristics that lead to lofting, transport, and survival of microbes; and the metabolic activity and genomic attributes of aerosolized microbes. Moreover, BROADN will provide international leadership in this emerging area, and set global standards for measurement and assessment of the aerobiome. This project will develop essential understanding to drive solutions to airborne transport of animal and plant pathogens, and to understand the ecological role of the aerobiome in preserving ecosystem health.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.