NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020: From Nanoscale to Global Scale: Viruses as Drivers of Community Interactions and Ecosystem Function

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Viruses that infect bacteria can profoundly affect the flow of nutrients and energy across the planet by changing the ways that bacteria process these nutrients (e.g. carbon and nitrogen) and interact with other organisms.

However, there is a lack information about the pathways that connect these microscopic interactions to impacts on global processes. This project will use species that live inside carnivorous purple pitcher plants to study the mechanisms through which viruses alter the role of bacteria in the ecosystem. The plant’s large native range, from northern Florida to southern Canada, also provides an opportunity to study the distribution patterns of viruses and their associated bacterial communities on a continental scale.

Bacteria are a key component of global nutrient cycles, socially and economically important industries (e.g. waste-water treatment and dairy production), as well as human, agricultural, and ecological health. This research will fill critical knowledge gaps in understanding the role that viruses play in these processes. The fellow will work with Boise State University and other programs to provide training for undergraduate and graduate students and develop workshops in microbial ecology for Idaho educators and coding for young women.

This project will investigate three mechanisms through which bacteriophages alter microbial metabolisms: host death, nonlethal effects of prophage, and host interactions with grazers. The study will integrate observational, experimental, and computational approaches throughout two phases. First, the fellow will conduct a biogeographic survey of phage abundance and diversity, as well as that of their host communities, spanning the purple pitcher plant’s native range.

The fellow will compare these communities with communities from non-native pitcher plants found in Switzerland, which lack dipteran larvae commonly found in North American pitcher plants. Viral and host metagenomes will be used to generate taxonomic assignments, create metabolic profiles for bacterial metagenomes, and predict host identity for viral metagenomes.

Second, the fellow will perform field and laboratory experiments to test how host death, prophage, and altered interactions between bacteria and grazers (protists) affect broad microbial metabolic activity using Biolog EcoPlates, respirations rates using the MicroResp system, and metabolic processes important for insect decomposition (e.g. chitinases and proteases) using enzyme assays. The fellow will work with the Idaho STEM Action Center to develop a workshop on microbial ecology for Idaho educators and instruct courses on coding and critical-thinking skills at the All Girls Coding Camp through the Discovery Center of Idaho.

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.