Establishing the links between skin microbiome, pollution and disease susceptibility in a native UK amphibian species

新出现的传染病对野生动物的健康构成重大威胁。了解预测个体感染易感性的因素对于制定野生动物保护和疾病控制的实际战略至关重要。与宿主生活在一起的细菌群落，被称为微生物群，可能是保护个体免受病原体感染的关键。在英国，普通蛙（临时蛙）的种群对病原体蛙病毒的反应明显不同。虽然一些人群出现了灾难性的病毒病暴发，但其他人群似乎相对稳定，这些模式似乎与他们皮肤微生物组的变异有关。然而，几乎没有人知道是什么决定了两栖动物宿主微生物群结构的变化。宿主保护细菌的定植受到环境的强烈影响，一种可能性是环境污染物（如抗菌污染物）的存在会对这些定植动态产生负面影响，对宿主健康产生重要影响。该项目将采用实地调查、对照实验和分子工具相结合的方法，调查两栖动物皮肤微生物群、ranavirus感染和英国普通青蛙种群中抗菌污染物之间的联系。该项目的总体目标是测试抗菌污染物通过改变两栖动物宿主皮肤微生物组的结构来改变其对疾病的易感性的假设。该学生将使用16S扩增子测序和霰弹枪宏基因组学，在英格兰西南部的一个地点网络中对野生普通青蛙进行广泛调查，以估计皮肤微生物组结构的空间（co）变化。-使用qPCR定量环境中ranavirus感染载量；以及这些感染负荷如何随季节变化——从每个地点生成池塘水的化学概况，以量化抗微生物化合物水平的空间（co）变化——使用抑制试验来测试普通青蛙粘膜体在体外灭活ranavirus病毒粒子的能力——对在普通花园条件下饲养的青蛙进行对照实验，以测试暴露于含有不同水平污染物的池塘水对皮肤微生物组结构的影响——

Emerging infectious diseases pose a significant threat to wildlife health. Understanding the factors that predict individual susceptibility to infection is vital for developing practical strategies for wildlife conservation and disease control.Bacterial communities living in association with hosts, known as the microbiome, can be key to protecting individuals from infection by pathogens. In the UK, populations of common frog (Rana temporaria) differ markedly in their response to the pathogen ranavirus. Whilst some populations have exhibited catastrophic outbreaks of the disease ranavirosis, others appear relatively stable, and these patterns appear to be linked to variation in their skin microbiome. However, almost nothing is known about what determines variation in amphibian host microbiome structure. Colonisation of host-protective bacteria is strongly influenced by the environment, and one possibility is that the presence of environmental contaminants such as antimicrobial pollutants can negatively affect these colonisation dynamics, with important consequences for host health.This project will use a combination of field surveys, controlled experiments and molecular tools to investigate the links between the amphibian skin microbiome, ranavirus infection, and antimicrobial pollutants in populations of the UK common frog. The overall aim of the project is to test the hypothesis that antimicrobial pollutants alter the susceptibility of amphibian hosts to disease by modifying structure of their skin microbiome. The student will - Perform an extensive survey of wild common frogs in a network of sites in the south west of England to estimate spatial (co)variation in skin microbiome structure, using both 16S amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics. - Use qPCR to quantify ranavirus infection loads in the environment, and how these infection loads change seasonally- Generate chemical profiles of pondwater from each site to quantify spatial (co)variation in levels of antimicrobial compounds- Use inhibition assays to test the ability of the common frog mucosome to inactivate ranavirus virions in vitro - Use controlled experiments on frogs reared in common garden conditions to test the effect of exposure to pond water containing varying levels of pollutants on skin microbiome structure -