IntBIO: Collaborative Research: Integrating molecular, cellular, organismal and community scales to understand how plants structure pollinator-pathogen dynamics

IntBIO：合作研究：整合分子、细胞、有机体和群落规模，以了解植物如何构建传粉媒介-病原体动态

• 批准号: 2128225
• 负责人: Rebecca Irwin
• 金额: $ 32.4万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128225&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IntBIO; Collaborative; Research; Integrating; molecular

Pollinators are critical for plant reproduction and human food security, but many pollinator species are declining due to stressors, including pathogens. The recent discoveries that sunflower pollen dramatically reduces infection by a common gut pathogen in bumble bees, and that flower species differ in how they affect pathogen transmission raises two key questions that will be addressed by this research: How do plant species affect disease dynamics in their pollinators, and what are the mechanisms responsible for those effects? The project work involves a new collaboration between a molecular biologist, ecologists, and a mathematical modeler. The work will combine molecular and ecological studies to understand how pollen shapes infection and to assess how pathogens are transmitted at flowers. The project will also partner with land managers creating new pollinator habitats to model and test how floral resources affect pollinator health. The project will conduct extensive public outreach, develop an after-school curriculum for middle-school students from an underserved community, and train graduate students in inclusive teaching practices. Taken together, this work will build bridges between disciplines to understand how flowers affect pollinator health and will train a new diverse generation of scientists. Food resources are key factors mediating host-pathogen dynamics, but they may have opposing effects at different biological levels of organization. For example, resource quality or quantity could stimulate the host immune system and reduce infection at the organismal level, yet increase host densities and contact rates at the community level, exacerbating pathogen spread. This research will integrate experiments to determine the impacts of resource quality and quantity on host-pathogen dynamics at the molecular, cellular, organismal, species interactions, and community levels using a highly tractable laboratory and field system of bees and a trypanosomatid pathogen that is transmitted via shared floral resources. Using 25 plant species, studies will assess effects of pollen diets on pathogen molecular and cellular processes in vitro, infection dynamics in vivo, likelihood of transmission during foraging, and visitation networks and pollinator population dynamics in the field. Plants to be targeted include the species from the Asteraceae, one of the most ubiquitous vascular plant families, because recent research shows that pollen from this family consistently reduces infection in bumble bees. Data from all objectives will be integrated using mathematical modeling that connects processes at multiple scales to predict how plant community composition shapes pathogen infection in pollinators. The project will provide equitable STEM pedagogy training for graduate students while creating middle school science programming in under-served communities, collaborating with a STEM educator focused on equitability to maximize effectiveness. Engagement with multiple groups creating pollinator habitat will provide an ideal platform for fostering communication between scientists and stakeholders.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.

传粉媒介对于植物繁殖和人类粮食安全至关重要，但许多传粉媒介物种由于包括病原体在内的压力而正在减少。 最近发现向日葵花粉可显着减少大黄蜂常见肠道病原体的感染，并且花卉种类在影响病原体传播的方式上有所不同，这提出了本研究将解决的两个关键问题：植物种类如何影响其疾病动态传粉媒介，造成这些影响的机制是什么？该项目工作涉及分子生物学家、生态学家和数学建模师之间的新合作。这项工作将结合分子和生态研究，以了解花粉如何影响感染并评估病原体如何在花朵中传播。该项目还将与土地管理者合作，创建新的授粉媒介栖息地，以模拟和测试花卉资源如何影响授粉媒介的健康。该项目将进行广泛的公众宣传，为来自服务欠缺社区的中学生开发课外课程，并培训研究生进行包容性教学实践。总而言之，这项工作将在学科之间架起桥梁，以了解花卉如何影响传粉媒介的健康，并将培训新一代多样化的科学家。食物资源是介导宿主-病原体动态的关键因素，但它们可能在不同的生物组织水平上产生相反的影响。例如，资源的质量或数量可以刺激宿主免疫系统并减少有机体水平的感染，但会增加社区水平的宿主密度和接触率，从而加剧病原体传播。这项研究将整合实验，利用高度易于处理的蜜蜂实验室和现场系统以及传播的锥虫病原体，在分子、细胞、有机体、物种相互作用和群落水平上确定资源质量和数量对宿主病原体动态的影响通过共享花卉资源。研究将使用 25 个植物物种来评估花粉饮食对体外病原体分子和细胞过程、体内感染动态、觅食期间传播的可能性以及实地访问网络和传粉昆虫种群动态的影响。目标植物包括菊科植物，菊科植物是最常见的维管植物科之一，因为最近的研究表明，该科植物的花粉持续减少熊蜂的感染。来自所有目标的数据将使用数学模型进行整合，该模型连接多个尺度的过程，以预测植物群落组成如何影响传粉昆虫的病原体感染。该项目将为研究生提供公平的 STEM 教育学培训，同时在服务不足的社区创建中学科学项目，并与专注于公平性的 STEM 教育者合作，以最大限度地提高效率。多个团体参与创建授粉媒介栖息地将为促进科学家和利益相关者之间的沟通提供一个理想的平台。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。