Physiological and Molecular Dissection of the Differential Sensitivity of Coral Symbionts to Thermally-Induced Bleaching: Mechanisms of Photodamage and Photoprotection

研究人员正在记录负责在自然（原位）条件下和实验室操作中经历热应力的共生甲藻的光损伤和光保护的特定生化和分子途径。 然后，他们可以确定如何通过非破坏性叶绿素荧光技术准确评估损害和/或保护过程。 由于光保护和光损伤的机制同时起作用，它们一起研究，以充分了解热漂白的动力学。 在受控的培养条件下和珊瑚原位内（从分子到生物体的各种尺度）监测共生甲藻的生理学，研究人员可以确定光合作用，光抑制和光保护的日常和季节性波动所涉及的细胞机制。 这些机制，特别是，似乎发挥了重要作用，在确定生态分布，以及最终的命运藻类无脊椎动物共生体在环境相关的压力。

Investigators are documenting specific biochemical and molecular pathways responsible for photodamage and photoprotection in symbiotic dinoflagellates experiencing thermal stress under both natural (in situ) conditions and in laboratory manipulations. Then, they can establish how damage and/or protective processes may be accurately assessed by non-destructive chlorophyll fluorescence techniques. Since mechanisms of photoprotection and photodamage act simultaneously, they are studied together to fully understand dynamics of thermal bleaching. Monitoring the physiology of symbiotic dinoflagellates in controlled culture conditions and within corals in situ (against a variety of scales, from molecular to organismal), investigators can identify cellular mechanisms involved in daily as well as seasonal fluctuations of photosynthesis, photoinhibition, and photoprotection. These mechanisms, in particular, appear to play a major role in determining ecological distribution, as well as the ultimate fate of algal-invertebrate symbioses during environmentally relevant stress.