NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Using DNA-barcode lineage tracking to study ecological and evolutionary dynamics in the cucumber pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：利用 DNA 条形码谱系追踪研究黄瓜病原体 Erwinia tracheiphila 的生态和进化动态

• 批准号: 2109800
• 负责人: Milo Johnson
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Johnson, Milo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-06-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109800&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY; NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research aims to use new genetic tools to understand the “evolutionary natural history” of an economically important cucumber and squash pathogen, Erwinia tracheiphila. E. tracheiphila infects plants through wounds on leaves or flowers, divides in the xylem of the plant, and is transmitted between plants by striped cucumber beetles. It is an ideal system for studying how plant pathogens adapt to different plant host and insect vector environments. Through a series of infection experiments, the Fellow will observe the process of E. tracheiphila evolution and measure the effects of mutations in squash, cucumber, and beetle environments. This research will further our understanding of this agriculturally important pathogen’s biology and will serve as a first step towards building a new model system for understanding the evolution of pathogens more generally. The Fellow will also participate in the Promoting Inclusivity in Computing (PINC) program at San Francisco State University during this work as part of an effort to broaden participation in computational biology research. This experience will also provide valuable training in education and scientific mentorship.Specifically, this research will use existing E. tracheiphila strain collections and DNA-barcode tracking technologies to study how E. tracheiphila evolves in high resolution. The Fellow will conduct lineage-tracking evolution experiments and barcode-based fitness assays to measure the fitness effects of both naturally occurring and engineered (using transposon mutagenesis) mutations in in-vivo plant and insect environments with and without competitors (other E. tracheiphila strains) and predators (phage). This work will provide a comprehensive dataset on how the fitness effects of mutations depend on the intersection of the environment, the genetic background, and ecological interactions. To maximize the broader impacts of this project, the barcoded E. tracheiphila strain libraries will be made available to other scientists, along with an open-source interactive browser that researchers can use to explore the data and test their own hypotheses. Working with scientists at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, the Fellow will gain training - in functional bacterial genetics, plant-microbial interactions, experimental design, and mentorship - that will be essential for a successful career as a scientist or research professor.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.

这项行动为2021财年的生物学生物学奖学金提供了一项NSF博士后研究奖学金，综合研究研究了基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生活规则。奖学金支持对研究员的研究和培训，这些研究和培训将以创新的方式为生活规则做出贡献。这项研究旨在使用新的遗传工具来了解经济上重要的黄瓜和壁球病原体Erwinia tracheiphila的“进化自然史”。 E. tracheiphila感染植物通过叶子或花朵上的损失，分裂在植物的木质部，并通过条纹黄瓜在植物之间传播。它是研究植物病原体如何适应不同植物宿主和绝缘载体环境的理想系统。通过一系列的感染实验，该研究员将观察到气管大肠杆菌的进化过程，并测量南瓜，黄瓜和甲虫环境中突变的影响。这项研究将进一步了解这一重要病原体的生物学，并将成为建立新的模型系统以更普遍地理解病原体演变的第一步。该研究工作还将在这项工作期间参加旧金山州立大学的计算计划（PINC）计划（PINC）计划的一部分，这是扩大参与计算生物学研究的一部分。这种经验还将提供有价值的教育和科学心理培训。特别是，这项研究将使用现有的E. tracheiphila菌株收集和DNA-Barcode跟踪技术来研究E. Tracheiphila如何高分辨率发展。该研究员将进行谱系跟踪进化实验和基于条形码的适应性评估，以测量体内植物和具有竞争者（其他E. tracheiphila strains）和没有竞争者（其他E. tracheiphila strains）和没有竞争者（phage）（phage）的体内植物和绝缘环境中自然发生和工程（使用转孔诱变）突变的适应性效应。这项工作将提供一个全面的数据集，讲述突变的适应性如何取决于环境的交集，遗传背景和生态相互作用。为了最大程度地提高该项目的更广泛影响，将为其他科学家提供条形码的E. tracheiphila菌株库，以及开源交互式浏览器，研究人员可以使用该浏览器来探索数据并测试自己的假设。该研究员与加州大学伯克利分校和劳伦斯伯克利分校的科学家合作，将获得功能性细菌遗传学，植物 - 微生物相互作用，实验设计和心态的培训，这对于成功地成为科学家或研究教授的职业至关重要。