Understanding virus diversity and host range using Drosophila

超过200种果蝇可以在实验室中培养，这些为比较生物学提供了无与伦比的模型系统。其中最著名的是黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster），一百多年来一直是一种重要的遗传模型，并为六项诺贝尔奖奠定了基础。果蝇的研究现在已经在行为、免疫、发育、衰老和许多其他领域做出了重大贡献。我们自己的工作最近已经鉴定并分离出了已知的第一批自然感染黑腹果蝇及其近亲的DNA病毒，在这里，我们计划将实验室果蝇的实验能力与野生物种的多样性联合收割机结合起来，以更好地了解宿主范围和物种间传播的决定因素。该项目最初将调查来自1万多个野生D.黑腹果蝇来扩大我们对果蝇病毒组的了解。然后，它将使用基于测序（扩增子）的方法来确定这些DNA病毒及其亲属在英国果蝇群落中的宿主分布。最后，它将在实验室中对多个果蝇物种进行实验研究，以了解感染的生理和健康后果。研究的细节可以根据申请人的需要量身定制，并且可以采用更生物信息学或更实验的方法。将提供全面的培训，并将有足够的机会获得任何（或所有）的技能：病毒发现，生物信息学，感染和生存研究，果蝇生理学和显微镜。

Over 200 species of Drosophila can be cultured in the lab, and these provide an unparalleled model system for comparative biology. The best known of these, Drosophila melanogaster, has been an essential genetic model for over a hundred years, forming the basis of six Nobel Prizes. Studies of Drosophila have now made major contributions in behaviour, immunity, development, ageing, and many other fields. Our own work has recently identified and isolated the first DNA viruses known to naturally infect Drosophila melanogaster and its close relatives, and here we plan to combine the experimental power of laboratory Drosophila with the diversity of wild species to better understand the determinants of host range and inter-species transmission. This project will initially survey metagenomic DNA data from over 10 thousand wild D. melanogaster to expand our knowledge of the Drosophila virome. It will then use a sequencing (amplicon) based approach to characterise the host distribution of these DNA viruses, and their relatives, in the UK Drosophilid community. Finally, it will use experimental studies with multiple Drosophila species in the laboratory to understand the physiological and fitness consequences of infection.The details of the study can be tailored to suit the applicant, and it could take either a more bioinformatic or a more experimental approach. Full training will be provided, and there will be ample opportunity to gain skills in any (or all) of: viral discovery, bioinformatics, infection and survival studies, Drosophila physiology, and microscopy.