Evolution and ecology of parasitism and symbiosis in insects

昆虫寄生与共生的进化与生态学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-03768
• 负责人: Perlman, Steven
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=631771
• 关键词: Evolution; ecology; parasitism; symbiosis; insects

Symbiosis is one of the most important forces shaping life on our planet. A major recent development in biology is the realization that all multicellular organisms harbour symbiotic microbes. These have long been incredibly difficult to study; however, advances in molecular and computational biology have revolutionized our understanding of microbial symbiosis. For example, we are just beginning to disentangle the function of the trillions of microbes that live in the human gut, and their important roles in metabolism, immunity, and development. Indeed, it has been argued that one cannot consider the ecology and evolution of an organism without including its microbiota, viewing the organism as a ‘hologenome’ (i.e. the host’s nuclear, organellar, and symbiont genomes combined).

共生是塑造我们星球生命的最重要力量之一。生物学最近的一个重大发展是认识到所有多细胞生物都具有共生微生物。这些长期以来很难研究。但是，分子和计算生物学的进步已经彻底改变了我们对微生物共生的理解。例如，我们才刚刚开始解散生活在人类肠道中的数万亿微生物的功能，及其在代谢，免疫学和发育中的重要作用。确实，有人认为，如果不包括其菌群，将生物体视为“全息素”（即宿主的核，有机和符号基因组），就不能考虑生物体的生态和进化。