Collaborative Research: The interplay between fluctuating selection on symbionts and life cycle evolution in sap-sucking insects

合作研究：共生体波动选择与吸汁昆虫生命周期进化之间的相互作用

基本信息

批准号：
1655177
负责人：
Gaelen Burke
金额：
$ 26.98万
依托单位：
University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-05-01 至 2024-04-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1655177&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research interplay between fluctuating

项目摘要

Insects that feed on the sap of their host plants, including many crop and forest pests, have within them beneficial bacteria that provide the insects with essential nutrients that are missing from their diet. This research quantifies how the properties of those bacteria have been affected by evolutionary changes in insect diets; it further explores the role that the bacteria have played in how the insects use new host plants and in the insect's life cycle. This knowledge is important because it highlights bacteria as hidden players in major aspects of insect ecology and evolution. Information from this project may also assist in the control of several forest pest insects. This project will provide training for graduate students, undergraduates, and high-school students, including individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences, and will promote public events to enhance scientific literacy and appreciation for research.This project studies Adelgidae insects that feed on conifer trees, and their dual symbionts. It tests the hypothesis that fluctuating demands for nutrient provisioning in insects has led to symbiont replacements, which in turn have precipitated new host-plant acquisitions and life-cycle complexity. Specific objectives include (1) establishing a family-wide pattern of the unusual role allocations between dual symbionts; (2) quantifying the contributions of symbionts and insect hosts to nutrient provisioning as a measure of adjustment to nutrient availability; (3) quantifying rates of evolution in symbiont genomes under different insect feeding modes. These objectives will be accomplished through DNA and RNA sequencing of symbiont genomes and expressed insect genes that support symbiont functions.

以宿主植物的树液为食的昆虫，包括许多农作物和森林害虫，都有有益的细菌，可为昆虫提供饮食中缺少的必需营养素。这项研究量化了这些细菌的特性如何受到昆虫饮食进化变化的影响；它进一步探讨了细菌在昆虫如何使用新宿主植物和昆虫生命周期中发挥的作用。这种知识很重要，因为它突出了细菌作为昆虫生态学和进化的主要方面的隐藏参与者。该项目的信息还可以帮助控制几种森林虫害昆虫。该项目将为研究生，本科生和高中生提供培训，包括来自科学中代表性不足的团体的个人，并将促进公共活动以增强科学素养和研究的欣赏。针叶树及其双重共生体。它检验了以下假设：昆虫中对养分养分的波动需求导致了共生体的替代品，这反过来又引起了新的宿主植物获取和生命周期的复杂性。具体目标包括（1）建立双重共生体之间异常作用分配的家庭范围的模式；（2）量化共生体和昆虫宿主对养分供应的贡献，以衡量养分可用性的调整；（3）在不同的昆虫进食模式下量化共生基因组进化速率。这些目标将通过共生基因组的DNA和RNA测序来实现，并表达支持共生函数的昆虫基因。