RoL: NSFDEB-BSF: Studying the evolution of the antiviral pathway in a cnidarian model interacting with diverse viral communities

RoL：NSFDEB-BSF：研究与不同病毒群落相互作用的刺胞动物模型中抗病毒途径的进化

• 批准号: 2044826
• 负责人: Adam Reitzel
• 金额: $ 81.8万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2044826&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RoL; NSFDEB; BSF; Studying; evolution

Viruses and the immune systems of animals evolve in response to each other. Animals have various molecular mechanisms for detection and destruction of diverse viruses. Despite viruses exerting tremendous costs to all animals, how invertebrates, particularly marine species, respond and adapt to virus communities has received more limited research. The limitations for understanding the impact of viral communities on marine invertebrates results from an incomplete understanding of how viruses vary over different populations as well as the precise mechanisms of the immune system that the host utilizes in controlling their viral community. The research team will utilize a sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) to study host immunity in the laboratory and the field to characterize the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of this symbiosis. This project will provide a synergistic international collaboration with Dr. Yehu Moran (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) to connect the ecology and symbioses of cnidarians with the molecular mechanisms of antiviral responses. This research will provide mentoring and training for a postdoctoral fellow as well as graduate and undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Additional research and educational opportunities will be provided through expansion of a SEA-PHAGES course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) and outreach through a new Center for Microbial Genomics at UNC Charlotte. Knowledge of the environmental, genetic, and molecular factors involved in modulating expression of antiviral pathways is essential to understand and predict how any host species will respond to diverse viral communities. The integrative research approach in this project will determine how shifts in the biotic and abiotic features of habitats correlate with changes in the expression of the antiviral response for a cnidarian host. The research team will use comparative genomics to detect signatures of positive selection by comparing the viromes and transcriptomes of populations of Nematostella vectensis across its native and introduced geographic range in North America. They will then use a combination of mesocosm and laboratory studies to quantify the extent of local adaptation of the anemone to specific viral communities through a combination of organismal and gene expression studies. They will employ a combination of transgenic approaches combined with laboratory and mesocosm studies to characterize how individual components of the antiviral response respond and mediate exposure to a diverse viral community. Nematostella vectensis has been utilized as a model for the ecological and evolutionary genomics by the international research team to understand the genetic diversity of this invertebrate, the role for nucleotide variation in local adaptation, and the function of focal genes through transgenic approaches. This project is expected to have a significant impact by identifying the evolution of these antiviral mechanisms in populations with exposure to different viruses and the mechanisms for viral detection and destruction in heterogeneous habitats that are vulnerable to the ongoing climate change.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

病毒和动物的免疫系统彼此响应。动物具有各种分子机制来检测和破坏各种病毒。尽管病毒对所有动物施加了巨大的成本，但无脊椎动物，尤其是海洋物种的反应和适应病毒群落的研究如何获得了更多的有限研究。理解病毒群落对海洋无脊椎动物的影响的局限性是由于对病毒在不同种群中的变化以及免疫系统的确切机制的不完全理解而产生的，宿主利用了控制其病毒群落。研究小组将利用海葵（Nematostella vectensis）来研究实验室和现场的宿主免疫力，以表征这种共生的生态和进化动力学。该项目将与Yehu Moran博士（以色列希伯来大学）提供协同的国际合作，以将Cnidarians的生态学和共生性与抗病毒反应的分子机制联系起来。这项研究将为博士后研究员以及北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特大学的研究生和本科生提供指导和培训。通过扩展基于海流课程的本科研究经验（CURE）和通过UNC Charlotte的微生物基因组学中心扩展，将提供其他研究和教育机会。 对调节抗病毒途径表达的环境，遗传和分子因素的了解对于理解和预测任何宿主物种将如何对各种病毒群落做出反应至关重要。该项目中的综合研究方法将决定栖息地的生物和非生物特征的变化与cnidarian宿主的抗病毒药反应表达的变化相关。研究小组将使用比较基因组学来检测阳性选择的特征，通过比较北美的本地和地理范围的Nematostella vectensis人群的病毒率和转录组。然后，他们将结合使用中库和实验室研究，通过结合生物体和基因表达研究的结合来量化海葵对特定病毒群落的局部适应程度。他们将采用多种转基因方法以及实验室和中验研究的结合，以表征抗病毒反应的各个组成部分如何响应并介导对多样化病毒群落的暴露。 金刚毒性静脉体已被国际研究小组用作生态和进化基因组学的模型，以了解这种无脊椎动物的遗传多样性，核苷酸变异在局部适应中的作用以及局部基因通过转基因方法的功能。预计该项目将通过确定暴露于不同病毒的人群中这些抗病毒机制的演变以及在异质栖息地中的病毒检测和破坏机制的演变，这些机制容易受到持续的气候变化的影响。该奖项奖励通过评估NSF的法定范围，反映了通过评估的支持者的支持和众所周知的基础。