This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Dr. Stephen E. Greiman is "Explorations of parasite and microbe biodiversity in shrews across a dynamic contact zone in the arctic." The host institution for this fellowship is the University of New Mexico, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Joseph A. Cook and Dr. Eric P. Hoberg.
The Museum of Southwestern Biology is a premier research collection with its collection of whole fixed small mammals. These specimens have preserved gastrointestinal tracts, including parasites, permitting study of host and pathogens in different locations and time periods. Using next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, the fellowship research uses metagenomics to examine community structure and diversity of a complex assemblage of macroparasites (parasitic worms or helminths) and microbes (bacteria and viruses) within two small vertebrate hosts (shrew species) across an extensive zone where these species contact each in northern Alaska. Hybridization is common and occurs when two related species that were once isolated come into contact, often due to changing environments, and successfully reproduce. The offspring are hybrids and often can persist and, through selection over succeeding generations, become increasingly adapted in the novel environment. Parasites are known to reduce the fitness of their host organisms, and differences in the levels of parasitism and parasite community structure between the hybrid and parent species could play a role in the eventual persistence or success over time for potentially divergent lineages of the hosts. New metagenomic methods are being developed for use in preserved specimens from collections; as these samples are irreplaceable, sustainable use requires special techniques.
Training goals include developing expertise in bioinformatics, NGS technologies, museum curation and collection management. Educational outreach to undergraduates includes developing, as part of the Aim-UP! program, an on-line module for evolution and parasitology courses based on the dynamics of parasites in hybrid zones.
