19-BBSRC-NSF/BIO Phage host range evolution in spatially structured microbiomes

噬菌体是细菌的病毒寄生物，是微生物群落或微生物组中细菌死亡的主要媒介。先前的工作表明，噬菌体宿主范围，即给定噬菌体可以成功感染的细菌类型，可以迅速进化。这种进化改变了噬菌体对微生物群落的组成和功能的影响。然而，这项先前的工作集中在细菌在混合良好的条件下生长，而微生物组中的许多细菌以称为生物膜的聚集体存在。生物膜中细菌的空间排列不仅不同，而且它们的生理或生活方式也不同。拟议的研究将最先进的计算机模拟与尖端的实验方法相结合，以开发和测试预测噬菌体对细菌群落影响的理论。这项工作将提高我们管理对人类健康和工业应用至关重要的微生物群落的能力。

Bacteriophages, the viral parasites of bacteria, are major agents of bacterial death in microbial communities or microbiomes. Previous work has shown that phage host range, the type of bacteria a given phage can successfully infect, can evolve rapidly. This evolution alters the impact that phage have on the composition and function of microbial communities. However, this previous work has focused on bacteria growing in well-mixed conditions while many bacteria in microbiomes exist in aggregations known as biofilms. Not only is the spatial arrangement of bacteria different in biofilms, but also their physiology or lifestyle. The proposed research will pair state of the art computer simulations with cutting edge experimental approaches to develop and test theory for predicting the impact that bacteriophage have on bacterial communities. This work will improve our ability to manage microbial communities that are vital for human health and industrial applications.