NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Understanding how Tripartite Interactions between Insects, Symbiotic Bacteria, and Parasites Influence Infection Outcomes in Insect Vectors

NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：了解昆虫、共生细菌和寄生虫之间的三方相互作用如何影响昆虫媒介的感染结果

• 批准号: 2305730
• 负责人: Sandra Mendiola
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Mendiola, Sandra Y
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305730&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Understanding

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Insects commonly form partnerships, known as symbioses, with bacteria. Within their insect hosts, bacterial symbionts can serve a variety of roles from synthesizing essential vitamins to increasing host resistance to heat stress. These bacterial partners can also alter the way insects respond to infection with other microbes—a phenomenon of particular interest for insects that transmit parasites that infect humans, animals, and plants (i.e., insect vectors). However, not all bacterial partners are equal and variation among individual insects as well as parasite strains can further complicate these interactions. This research addresses how variation among insect, bacterial symbiont, and parasite strain influences the outcome of infections in insect vectors. Its outcomes therefore also have implications for human health; the project will also help to address the underrepresentation of certain groups of undergraduates and postbaccalaureates in this important area of scientific inquiry.The Fellow will carry out this research using kissing bugs—vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease—and their symbionts. The Fellow will first assess whether there is specificity in insect-symbiont pairings across kissing bug species and their Rhodococcus spp. symbionts by pairing all possible combinations of insect and bacteria in a full factorial design and assessing insect survival and fecundity as well as bacterial growth and persistence within the insect. Commonly circulating strains of T. cruzi from each kissing bug species’ native range will then be used to challenge the different insect-symbiont pairs to determine which pairings are the least permissive to infection. These data will then be used to determine whether insects, symbionts, parasites, or interactions between the three are driving insect infection outcomes. Concurrently, the Fellow will work to broaden the participation of historically underrepresented groups in science by: (1) providing research opportunities related to the project for undergraduates and post-baccalaureate scholars; and (2) cultivating a regional network of underrepresented scientists across disciplines and career stages. These combined activities seek to increase the recruitment and retention of students from historically underrepresented groups in scientific research.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.

该行动为2023财年的生物学生物学研究金提供了一项NSF博士后研究奖学金，扩大了在生物学中代表不足的群体的参与。奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，这将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。昆虫通常形成与细菌的合作伙伴关系，称为符号。在其昆虫宿主中，细菌符号可以从合成必需的维生素中发挥各种作用，以增加宿主对热应激的耐药性。这些细菌伴侣还可以改变昆虫对其他微生物感染的反应方式，这种现象对传播感染人类，动物和植物的寄生虫（即昆虫载体）特别感兴趣。但是，并非所有细菌伴侣都是平等的，单个昆虫之间的变化以及寄生虫菌株会进一步使这些相互作用复杂化。这项研究探讨了昆虫，细菌共生和寄生虫菌株之间的变异如何影响昆虫载体中感染的结果。因此，它的结果也对人类健康有影响。该项目还将有助于解决在科学探究的这一重要领域中某些本科生和后洞的某些群体的代表性不足。该研究员将使用接吻虫（Cruzi锥虫菌，Chagas病的警告剂）及其象征进行这项研究。该研究员将首先评估在接吻虫子物种及其犀牛属中是否有特异性。共生体通过在完整的阶乘设计中配对绝缘和细菌的所有可能组合，并监测绝缘的生存和繁殖力以及绝缘层中细菌的生长和持久性。然后，通常会使用每个接吻虫物种的本地范围的克鲁齐（T. cruzi）循环菌株，以挑战不同的绝缘材料 - 共生型对，以确定哪些配对最不允许感染。然后，这些数据将用于确定昆虫，符号，寄生虫或三个之间的相互作用是驱动昆虫感染结果。同时，该研究员将努力扩大历史上代表性不足的科学群体的参与：（1）提供与本科生和学士后学者有关的研究机会； （2）在学科和职业阶段培养代表性不足的科学家的区域网络。这些合并的活动旨在增加科学研究中历史上代表性不足的群体中学生的招聘和保留。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。