Location: Crop Bioprotection Research
Project Number: 5010-22410-022-003-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 5, 2023
End Date: Jun 8, 2026
Objective:
The microorganisms that live inside and on an organism are known to play a pivotal role in health, including infection outcomes. Diet significantly impacts the make up of a microbiome, suggesting that diet may both directly and indirectly impact infection outcomes. Here, we will work with the Cooperator to explore these interactions within a model insect system, the tropical house cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus).
Approach:
To understand the role diet and microbiome play in health status and infection outcomes, the Cooperator will make use of their cricket stock populations that have been reared on chemically defined and distinct diets for over 50 cricket generations (over 8 years of work). These populations are known to have distinct microbiomes and significantly different life history traits (e.g., immune function, development time, etc.). Scientists at ARS are experts in insect pathology and will work with the Cooperator on these objectives by assessing infection outcomes and quantifying immune function in the insect host.
