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

研究人员正在记录共生鞭毛藻在自然（原位）条件和实验室操作下经历热应激时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机制是同时发生的，因此为了充分了解热漂白的动力学，我们将它们结合在一起进行研究。通过监测共生鞭毛藻在受控培养条件下和原位珊瑚内的生理（从分子到生物的各种尺度），研究人员可以确定参与光合作用、光抑制和光保护的日常和季节性波动的细胞机制。特别是，这些机制似乎在环境相关压力下决定生态分布以及藻类-无脊椎共生的最终命运方面发挥了重要作用。

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.