CAREER: The contributions of imperfect transmission and cytoplasmic incompatibility to Wolbachia frequency variation

职业生涯：不完美的传输和细胞质不相容性对沃尔巴克氏体频率变异的影响

• 批准号: 2145195
• 负责人: Brandon Cooper
• 金额: $ 149.28万
• 依托单位: University of Montana
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-06-01 至 2027-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145195&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; contributions; imperfect; transmission; cytoplasmic

Over a billion years ago a host cell engulfed a free-living bacterium in a remarkable event that led to the evolution of mitochondria that now provide the chemical energy for animal, plant, and fungal cells. Recent research has revealed that the process of microbes taking up residence inside the cells of other species (known as endosymbiosis) is very common, especially among insects. For example, a single microbe called Wolbachia infects more than half of all insect species on Earth. Unlike mitochondria, Wolbachia are usually not required for their hosts to survive and reproduce. Instead, the proportion of individuals within a host species with Wolbachia at any time varies greatly for unknown reasons, making it hard to predict the consequences for host biology. This project will unravel the causes of variable Wolbachia prevalence as a model for more broadly understanding conditions that favor endosymbiosis. This work will also potentially contribute to improving human health. Wolbachia can block viruses like dengue and Zika in mosquito systems, but increasing the efficacy of this work requires identifying conditions that favor high Wolbachia prevalence. This project will identify such conditions in natural systems. Locally, this project will educate and train first-generation and Native Montana students in cutting-edge laboratory, field, and computational approaches that will improve their competitiveness in STEM-related careers. A new course at the University of Montana focused on host-microbe interactions will be further developed to include outreach activities aimed at exposing individuals in rural Montana to the unique biology of endosymbiosis. Organismal performance and fitness depends on interactions across levels of biological organization. Among all species interactions, those between animals and microbial endosymbionts that live inside their cells are perhaps the most intimate, influencing host behavior, physiology, life history, and fitness. Some endosymbionts may even contribute to reproductive isolation and speciation, highlighting their broad importance for host biology. The evolutionary outcomes of host-endosymbiont interactions ultimately depend on endosymbiont prevalence in host populations, which varies widely for unknown reasons. This project will leverage 50 million years of Wolbachia evolution distributed across divergent host species to determine the causes of Wolbachia frequency variation. The project will specifically dissect how genes in host and endosymbiont genomes interact with each other and with temperature (GxGxE interactions) to influence maternal Wolbachia transmission rates and the strength of Wolbachia-induced reproductive manipulations like cytoplasmic incompatibility. Mathematical models will then be used to evaluate how both genomic and environmental interactions contribute to Wolbachia prevalence in divergent host systems. At each step, this project includes activities that will leverage the unique biology of endosymbiosis to educate and train first-generation and Native students in Montana.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.

十亿年前，一个宿主细胞在一个了不起的事件中吞没了一种自由生活的细菌，导致线粒体的演变现在为动物，植物和真菌细胞提供化学能量。最近的研究表明，微生物在其他物种细胞内（称为内共生）中占用的过程非常普遍，尤其是在昆虫中。例如，一个称为Wolbachia的单一微生物感染了地球上所有昆虫物种的一半以上。与线粒体不同，沃尔巴基亚通常不需要宿主生存和繁殖。取而代之的是，由于未知原因，随时使用沃尔巴氏菌的宿主物种中的个体比例差异很大，因此很难预测宿主生物学的后果。该项目将揭示可变沃尔巴氏症患病率的原因，以此作为更广泛地理解有利于内共生的条件的模型。这项工作还可能有助于改善人类健康。 Wolbachia可以阻止蚊子系统中的登革热和Zika等病毒，但是提高这项工作的功效需要识别有利于高沃尔巴奇患病率的条件。该项目将在自然系统中确定此类条件。在本地，该项目将教育和培训第一代和蒙大拿州本地学生的尖端实验室，领域和计算方法，以提高其在与STEM相关的职业中的竞争力。蒙大拿州大学的一项新课程将进一步开发，以包括旨在使蒙大拿州农村地区的个人接触内共生生物的独特生物学的外展活动。生物性能和健身取决于生物组织层面之间的相互作用。在所有物种相互作用中，动物和生活在其细胞内部的微生物内共生体之间的相互作用可能是最亲密的，影响宿主的行为，生理，生命史和适应性。一些内共生体甚至可能有助于生殖隔离和物种形成，强调了它们对宿主生物学的广泛重要性。宿主 - 结合体相互作用的进化结果最终取决于宿主种群中内共生体的患病率，而宿主人群的发生率很大，由于未知原因而变化很大。该项目将利用分布在不同宿主物种的沃尔巴基亚进化5000万年，以确定沃尔巴奇频率变化的原因。该项目将特别剖析宿主和内共生基因组中的基因如何相互相互作用，并与温度（GXGXE相互作用）相互作用，以影响母体的沃尔巴奇传播速率以及沃尔巴奇诱导的生殖操纵（如细胞质不相容性）的强度。然后，数学模型将用于评估基因组和环境相互作用如何在发散宿主系统中导致沃尔巴奇的患病率。在每个步骤中，该项目都包括将利用内共生生生物的独特生物学来教育和培训第一代学生和蒙大拿州的土著学生的活动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评估标准来通过评估来获得支持的。