Understanding the genetic basis of reproductive strategy in a parasitic nematode system

胃肠道寄生线虫是一种重要的寄生虫，全球约有6亿人感染。这些寄生虫有一个独特的生命周期，非常适合理解生殖的遗传和表观遗传基础。圆线虫的生命周期在寄生的成年雌虫和自由生活的有性繁殖的雌雄后代之间交替进行。孤雌成虫的后代发育成具有传染性的il - 3雌性幼虫（将继续感染新的宿主）或发育成有性生殖的成虫的幼虫。有性繁殖的成年人所生的所有后代都是il - 3。重要的是，交替代的成年雌性在基因上是相同的，并且都产生il - 3后代，这为比较生殖繁殖策略提供了理想的实验室模型。该项目将研究单性生殖和有性生殖的成年雌性胚胎的差异，以了解生殖生物学的基本原理。我们假设来自不同生殖策略的胚胎(1)成为寄生虫的能力不同。成功感染主机。（ii）表达不同水平的基因、转座因子和小rna。（三）和（二）直接受到环境因素的影响，如温度、暴露于免疫应激、饮食限制和所暴露的微生物群落组成。本项目将结合实验室和生物信息学技能来检验这些假设。该学生将接受项目各方面的全面培训，如寄生虫培养和生物学，测序方法，如rnaseq和small-RNAseq，以及序列数据的生物信息学分析。学生将受益于具有不同专业知识的导师团队。该项目将与菊地大成（东京大学）合作进行，学生将有机会访问日本，作为他们学习和培训的一部分。申请者必须在寄生虫学、线虫学、生殖生物学和/或遗传学方面有很强的学士学位或硕士学位

The gastrointestinal parasitic nematode, Strongyloides, is an important parasite that infects ~600 million people globally.These parasites have a unique lifecycle that is ideally suited to understanding the genetic and epigenetic basis ofreproduction. The Strongyloides lifecycle alternates between a parasitic adult female generation that reproduces byparthenogenesis and a free-living sexually reproducing male and female generation. The offspring of parthenogenic adultsdevelop into female infective 'iL3' larvae (that will go on to infect a new host) or larvae that develop into sexuallyreproducing adults. All offspring produced by sexually reproducing adults are iL3s. Importantly, adult females in alternategenerations are genetically identical, and both produce iL3 offspring, offering an ideal laboratory model to comparereproductive strategies. This project will investigate differences in the embryos derived from parthenogenic and sexuallyreproducing adult females to understand fundamental principles about reproductive biology. We hypothesise that embryos derived from different reproductive strategies (i) differ in their ability to be a parasitee.g. to successfully infect a host. (ii) express genes, transposable elements and small RNAs at different levels. (iii) and(ii) is directly affected by environmental factors such as temperature, exposure to immune stress, dietary restrictions,and composition of microbial communities they are exposed to.This project will test these hypotheses using a combination of laboratory and bioinformatic skills. The student willreceive full training in all aspects of the project such as parasite culturing and biology, sequencing methods such asRNAseq and small-RNAseq, and bioinformatic analysis of sequence data. The student will benefit from a team ofsupervisors with diverse expertise.This project will be carried out in collaboration with Taisei Kikuchi (University of Tokyo), and the student will haveopportunities to visit Japan as part of their studies and training. Applicants should have a strong first degree or masterswith an interest in parasitology, nematodes, reproductive biology and/or genetics