H2020Индивидуална стипендия2021–2023

TRADEOFF · Deciphering fundamental constraints on pathogen adaptation

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2021-09-01 → 2023-08-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 191 149 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Гъбичните патогени често трябва да избират между бързото си развитие и способността да заразяват, което се нарича компромис. Разбирането на тези механизми и ролята на мобилните генетични елементи „Starships“ помага за по-точни прогнози за разпространението на болестите при промяна на климата.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Deciphering fundamental constraints on pathogen adaptation

Adaptations allow organisms to better survive and reproduce in their environment. In the case of pathogenic microbes, many adaptations consist of traits that improve the pathogen’s ability to cause disease on plants and animals. Yet improving one trait often comes at expense of another, i.e., a trade-off. For example, pathogens that grow better in the absence of their host are often worse at causing disease, and vice versa. While such trade-offs between infection and survival are frequently observed, the mechanisms giving rise to such trade-offs often remain unknown. We thus lack power for predicting pathogen evolution and rarely are trade-offs exploited to contain epidemics. The overall objectives of this project were to identify underlying selective (Obj. 1), environmental (Obj. 2), and genetic (Obj. 3) constraints that together give rise to important trade-offs in fungal pathogens. Knowledge of the drivers that result in trade-offs will help inform more accurate predictions of when and where diseases will manifest and how the progression of disease might change in the future under a changing climate. A major research innovation resulting from this project was the discovery of a novel and previously unrecognized source of constraints on fungal pathogens: giant mobile elements that we named “Starships”. Through investigating the activity of Starships in various fungal pathogens, we demonstrated that Starships are associated with an important virulence-survival trade-off while at the same time they are also associated with adaptive metabolic genes and under strong negative selection. Our investigation into the association between Starships and trade-offs has revealed that Starships are a mechanism with potential to both constrain and facilitate pathogen adaptation.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Adaptation is considered to be a fundamental determinant of organismal evolution, but getting better at something may have an evolutionary cost. This limitation is encapsulated in the concept of a trade-off, where improvements in one trait come at the expense of another. For example, pathogens that excel at surviving in their host’s absence are often worse at causing disease, and vice versa. Knowledge of how trade-offs impact pathogens is particularly important as it would enhance our ability to predict disease emergence. However, while observations of trade-offs abound, we know little about why they occur. In order to gain crucial insight into pathogen evolution, I propose to investigate the underlying selective, environmental, and genetic constraints leading to life history trade-offs in Zymoseptoria tritici, an economically important pathogen of wheat in Europe with defined infection and survival stages. We will first determine the selective constraints on adaptation by contrasting the signatures of selection on genes expressed during survival, during infection, or both, across 15 global isolates. Then, by phenotyping a diverse panel of 150 Swiss isolates, we will identify infection-survival trade-offs, and test whether or not the strength and direction of trade-offs change in response to environmental conditions anticipated under future climate change. Finally, we will evaluate the importance of genetic constraints for shaping trade-offs by identifying loci contributing to both infection and survival (i.e., pleiotropy), and will furthermore determine whether or not the mechanisms of pleiotropy are related to carbon metabolism. Identifying the causes of trade-offs in a plant pathogen will not only produce broadly relevant insights into organismal biology and ecology, but will help European scientists exploit trade-offs to sustainably manage disease and bolster food security.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITE DE NEUCHATEL · NeuchatelКоординаторШвейцария