Establishing the links between skin microbiome, pollution and disease susceptibility in a native UK amphibian species

建立英国本土两栖动物皮肤微生物组、污染和疾病易感性之间的联系

• 批准号: 2239927
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2239927
• 关键词: Establishing; links; between; skin; microbiome

Emerging infectious diseases pose a significant threat to wildlife health. Understanding the factors that predict individual susceptibility to infection is vital for developing practical strategies for wildlife conservation and disease control.Bacterial communities living in association with hosts, known as the microbiome, can be key to protecting individuals from infection by pathogens. In the UK, populations of common frog (Rana temporaria) differ markedly in their response to the pathogen ranavirus. Whilst some populations have exhibited catastrophic outbreaks of the disease ranavirosis, others appear relatively stable, and these patterns appear to be linked to variation in their skin microbiome. However, almost nothing is known about what determines variation in amphibian host microbiome structure. Colonisation of host-protective bacteria is strongly influenced by the environment, and one possibility is that the presence of environmental contaminants such as antimicrobial pollutants can negatively affect these colonisation dynamics, with important consequences for host health.This project will use a combination of field surveys, controlled experiments and molecular tools to investigate the links between the amphibian skin microbiome, ranavirus infection, and antimicrobial pollutants in populations of the UK common frog. The overall aim of the project is to test the hypothesis that antimicrobial pollutants alter the susceptibility of amphibian hosts to disease by modifying structure of their skin microbiome. The student will - Perform an extensive survey of wild common frogs in a network of sites in the south west of England to estimate spatial (co)variation in skin microbiome structure, using both 16S amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics. - Use qPCR to quantify ranavirus infection loads in the environment, and how these infection loads change seasonally- Generate chemical profiles of pondwater from each site to quantify spatial (co)variation in levels of antimicrobial compounds- Use inhibition assays to test the ability of the common frog mucosome to inactivate ranavirus virions in vitro - Use controlled experiments on frogs reared in common garden conditions to test the effect of exposure to pond water containing varying levels of pollutants on skin microbiome structure -

新出现的传染病对野生动物健康构成重大威胁。了解预测个体感染易感性的因素对于制定野生动物保护和疾病控制的实用策略至关重要。与宿主相关的细菌群落（称为微生物组）可能是保护个体免受病原体感染的关键。在英国，普通青蛙（Rana temporaria）种群对病原体蛙病毒的反应存在显着差异。虽然一些人群出现了拉那病毒病的灾难性爆发，但其他人群似乎相对稳定，这些模式似乎与其皮肤微生物组的变化有关。然而，对于两栖动物宿主微生物组结构的变化决定因素几乎一无所知。宿主保护性细菌的定殖受到环境的强烈影响，一种可能性是环境污染物（例如抗菌污染物）的存在会对这些定殖动态产生负面影响，对宿主健康产生重要影响。该项目将结合实地调查、对照实验和分子工具来研究英国普通青蛙种群中两栖动物皮肤微生物组、蛙病毒感染和抗菌污染物之间的联系。该项目的总体目标是检验这样的假设：抗菌污染物通过改变两栖动物宿主皮肤微生物组的结构来改变其对疾病的易感性。学生将 - 使用 16S 扩增子测序和鸟枪法宏基因组学，对英格兰西南部的一个地点网络中的野生青蛙进行广泛的调查，以估计皮肤微生物组结构的空间（共）变异。 - 使用 qPCR 量化环境中的蛙病毒感染量，以及这些感染量如何季节性变化 - 生成每个地点的池塘水的化学特征，以量化抗菌化合物水平的空间（共）变化 - 使用抑制测定来测试细菌的能力普通青蛙粘膜在体外灭活蛙病毒病毒颗粒 - 对在普通花园条件下饲养的青蛙进行对照实验，测试暴露于含有不同水平污染物的池塘水中对皮肤微生物组结构的影响 -