Coevolutionary genomics: Drosophila-Spiroplasma interactions

大自然充满了不同物种成员之间的相互作用。有时这些相互作用是互利的（例如，蚜虫需要细菌来制造氨基酸）；在其他情况下，一方受益于另一方（例如，生活在宿主体内的寄生虫）。随着寄生虫与新的宿主物种接触，新的寄生虫-宿主相互作用一直在建立。然而，在大多数情况下，这些都是短暂的——寄生虫在新宿主中死亡，或者由于无法以足够的速度传播而无法维持。在其他情况下，它们产生戏剧性的（和重大的）流行病。我们感兴趣的是导致新交互成功（和失败）的原因。在这个项目中，我们试图确定宿主防御和其他反应的诱导在多大程度上与新相互作用的失败有关（因此，找出在成功的相互作用中对寄生虫来说什么是“正确的”）。该项目将利用最近完成的果蝇基因组给我们提供新的见解。这个完整的基因组使我们能够制造芯片，在芯片上我们可以同时测量基因组中每个基因的表达率。我们将测试那些在果蝇体内挣扎生存的寄生虫是否比那些成功生存的寄生虫更少地隐藏在宿主的基因组中。

Nature is full of interactions between members of different species. Sometimes these interactions are mutually beneficial (for instance, an aphid requires bacteria to make amino acids); in other cases, one party benefits at the expense of another (for instance, a parasite that lives in a host). New parasite-host interactions are establishing all the time, as parasites come into contact with new host species. However, on the majority of occasions, these are transient-the parasite dies in the new host, or is not maintained as it cannot transmit with a sufficient rate. On other occasions, they produce dramatic (and significant) epidemics. We are interested in what causes the success (and failure) of new interactions. In this project, we seek to establish the extent to which induction of host defence and other responses is associate with the failure of new interactions (and therefore, find out what goes 'right' for the parasite in successful ones). The project will use the recently completed fruitfly genome to give us new insights. This completed genome has allowed the creation of chips, upon which we can simultaneously measure the rate of expression of every gene in the genome. We will test if parasites that struggle to survive in Drosophila are less hidden from the host, on a genome-wide basis, than those that are successful.