NSF PRFB FY23: Roles of gut microbiomes in herbivorous host toxin tolerance

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, 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. Microbiomes are communities of microorganisms that are important for hosts and for the environment.

This research will investigate the role of host microbiomes in digesting plants that produce toxins. Snowshoe hares and greater sage-grouse are two herbivores that eat toxic plants. They have similar digestive systems and therefore a similar environment for their gut microbiomes.

Both hosts are the target of conservation efforts since their survival is threatened by pollution and climate change. Thus, understanding how herbivores overcome toxin exposure can help protect and preserve ecosystems. Furthermore, as part of the training plan, the fellow will broaden participation of diverse communities in science through teaching, science communication, mentoring, and outreach.

This research will demonstrate that microbiomes perform important functions for the host as a Rule of Life. The fellow will determine the microbial genomic functions and mechanisms driving host toxin tolerance using data-driven and empirical multi-omics approaches. The research will investigate two hypotheses regarding the gut microbial role in toxin tolerance (i.e., plant secondary metabolite degradation) for snowshoe hares and greater sage-grouse: 1) the gut microbiome of snowshoe hares varies over time due to seasonal, dietary changes in toxicity, and 2) similar gut microbial taxa will drive toxin tolerance in distinct hosts that specialize on different diets.

The project will incorporate metagenomic and metabolomic analyses on snowshoe hare fecal and cecal pellet collections from the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research (BNZ LTER) program sites near Fairbanks, Alaska. Furthermore, this research will classify the microbial taxa from metagenomic approaches, then will compare the microbial pathways responsible for toxin tolerance in sage-grouse and snowshoe hare cultured gut isolates with transcriptomic and metabolomic methods.

Training objectives for the fellow include strengthening bioinformatic and empirical skills, expanding expertise of host-associated microbial ecology and physiology, and incorporating inclusive mentoring and teaching for historically excluded students. This project is jointly funded by Division of Biological Infrastructure in the Directorate of Biological Sciences and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

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.