ANDIV4: Elevational effects on insect-associated microbiomes

海拔梯度主要是研究植物和动物群落，但组装规则仍然大多不清楚。已经提出了不同的假设，相关的ANDIV1 - 3项目旨在调查海拔多样性和营业额模式，并了解一般的，但也分类特定的昆虫丰富度的驱动因素。然而，微生物世界在海拔梯度方面受到的关注要少得多。特别是，到目前为止，还没有系统地研究与宿主相关的类群与它们的微生物的影响，沿沿着海拔梯度。因此，通过ANDIV4项目，我们的目标是调查与ANDIV1 - 3宿主分类群相关的微生物群，涵盖主要的昆虫类群，包括膜翅目，鞘翅目，双翅目和鳞翅目。该项目的目标是确定海拔对昆虫相关细菌肠道微生物组的组成和多样性的影响，以及分析基因组以描述负责海拔限制和对宿主功能影响的相关机制。我们将结合联合收割机培养独立的筛选方法，通过元条形码和生物测定实验与基因组学相结合，根据观察到的宿主和微生物的分布来验证和实验证明限制。此外，我们将研究昆虫宿主的微生物功能的基因组增益和损失。与其他ANDIV项目一起，这项研究将有助于我们了解昆虫和微生物组生物多样性的驱动因素以及沿着海拔梯度的功能。

Elevational gradients have been mostly investigated for plant and animal communities, yet the assembly rules still remain mostly unclear. Different hypotheses have been proposed, and the associated ANDIV1–3 projects aim to investigate elevational diversity and turnover patterns and with that to understand general, but also taxon-specific drivers of insect richness. The microbial world however has received much less attention with respect to elevational gradients. Particularly, the impact on host-associated taxa with their microbes has so far not been systematically investigated along elevational gradients. With the ANDIV4 project, we thus aim to investigate the microbiota associated with the host taxa of ANDIV1–3, covering the major insect groups of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera. The goal of this project is to identify elevational effects on the composition and diversity of insect-associated bacterial gut microbiomes, as well as to analyse genomes to describe relevant mechanisms responsible for elevational restrictions and impacts on functions for the host. We will combine cultivation-independent screening methods through meta-barcoding and bioassays experiments coupled with genomics to verify and experimentally proof restrictions according to the observed distributions of hosts and microbes. Further we will investigate genomic gains and losses of microbial functions for insect hosts. Together with the other ANDIV projects, this study will contribute to our understanding of the drivers of insects and microbiome biodiversity and function along elevational gradients.