Collaborative Research: Ontogenic change in Cnidarian-algal symbioses: A genomic and ecologic perspective

珊瑚（刺胞藻：六珊瑚：硬珊瑚）和光合甲藻共生体（泡藻：甲藻：共生藻）之间的共生关系提供了珊瑚礁生态系统的基础和结构，以及对全球碳和地球化学循环的重大贡献。鉴于这种共生的重要性，珊瑚藻holobiont和珊瑚礁生态系统，了解管理的机制，建立和长期维持这种共生关系是必不可少的。本项目的总体目标是确定导致成虫宿主所携带的共生体最终聚集的机制和选择过程。这个问题将从生态学和基因组学两个角度来探讨，其具体目的是确定（1）当成虫进入成熟的共生体时，不同的共生藻株是否对珊瑚的适合度产生不同的影响（2）共生体之间的竞争或环境条件是否有助于最终的宿主-共生体配对，以及（3）宿主/共生体转录组随着宿主内的共生体群落被筛选到在成虫宿主中发现的最终组合而变化。将在不同的环境条件下测量直接影响珊瑚适应性（即生长，生存，能量生产）的特征，这些特征将在实验上感染不同类型的共生藻的珊瑚新兵的个体发育过程中进行测量。同时，高通量基因表达谱将用于跟踪宿主和共生体之间的基因表达变化。总之，这些数据将被用来验证或证伪的假设，即最终的共生体组合中发现的成年主机是由（a）主机选择（B）共生体之间的竞争和/或（c）环境conditions.This研究池的专业知识的两个实验室，专注于这些方面的共生。Coffroth实验室开创了共生早期个体发育和共生体多样性的研究，并将继续在生态学研究中处于领先地位。麦地那实验室是在基因组技术的开发和利用的最前沿，以研究在共生的建立和分解过程中的转录组变化。此外，麦地那实验室有珊瑚微阵列将用于这项研究，并在2009年也将有两个共生藻物种的寡核苷酸阵列的基础上454 EST数据。虽然有几个小组对宿主转录组进行了初步研究，但没有一个小组在一个实验中结合了检查宿主和共生体的方法。这将是一个强大的方法，因为它将允许调查人员跟踪宿主和共生体之间的基因表达的互补变化，并与那些营业额在共生体社区作为最终的共生体complementsestablished.The数据产生的研究将弥合一个重要的差距，在我们的理解珊瑚共生藻共生的建立和维护。了解调节共生关系建立的机制将拓宽我们的知识，并有助于预测这种共生关系对未来气候条件的反应。与过去一样，基因组工具（阵列，EST）将随时提供给研究人员通过阵列分配成本，微阵列分析培训，或序列数据，提供宝贵的资源，继续探索这些system.In尼亚加拉水族馆，Coffroth将开发教育和推广计划，培训和传播有关珊瑚礁的信息，以当地教师和公众。麦地那实验室将继续与加州大学默塞德的本科生一起制作多种语言（英语，西班牙语和苗族语）的科学和环境播客，并将继续与加州科学院（CAS）合作开展珊瑚礁外展工作。此外，这项工作将导致一名博士后研究员，至少一名研究生和至少2名本科生的培训和指导。通过这个项目，这些学生将有机会在实验室和现场环境中参与研究，学习一系列生态，分子和藻类培养技术。位于布法罗大学的大量培养物收藏是一个重要的资源，可供世界各地的研究人员使用，拟议的资金将有助于维持这一资源。我们的EST注释可通过我们的EST数据库（http：//sequoia.ucmerced.edu/SymBioSys/）公开获得。

PROJECT SUMMARYThe symbiosis between corals (Cnidaria:Hexacorallia:Scleractinia) and photosynthetic dinoflagellate symbionts (Alveolata: Dinophycea: Symbiodinium) provides the foundation and structure of the coral reef ecosystem, as well as significant contributions to global carbon and biogeochemical cycles. Given the importance of this symbiosis to the coral-algal holobiont and the reef ecosystem, understanding the mechanisms governing the establishment and long term maintenance of this symbiosis is essential. The overall aim of this project is to identify the mechanisms and selective processes that lead to thefinal assemblage of symbionts harbored by adult hosts. This question will be approached from two perspectives, ecologic and genomic, with the specific aims of determining (1) if different Symbiodinium strains differentially affect fitness of corals as the adult settles into a mature symbiosis (2) if competition among symbionts or environmental conditions contribute to the final host-symbiont pairing and (3) how host/symbiont transcriptomes varying as the symbiont community within a host is winnowed to the final assemblage found in the adult host. Traits that directly affect coral fitness (i.e. growth, survivorship, energy production) will be measured under different environmental conditions over the ontogeny of coral recruits that are experimentally infected with different types of Symbiodinium. Concurrently, high throughput gene expression profiling will be used to follow changes in gene expression between host and symbiont. Together, these data will be used to validate or falsify the hypotheses that the final symbiont assemblage found in the adult host is determined by (a) host selection (b) competition among symbionts and/or (c) environmental condition.This study pools the expertise of two labs that have focused on these aspects of the symbiosis. The Coffroth lab pioneered the studies on early ontogeny of the symbiosis and symbiont diversity and will continue to take the lead in the ecological studies. The Medina lab is at the forefront in the development and utilization of genomic technology to study transcriptomic changes during the establishment and breakdown of the symbiosis. Furthermore, the Medina lab has the coral microarrays to be used in this study and in 2009 will also have oligo arrays for two Symbiodinium species based on 454 EST data. Although several groups have initial studies of the host transcriptome, none have combined an approach that examines the host and the symbiont in a single experiment. This will be a powerful approach as it will allow the investigators to track complementary changes in gene expression between host and symbiont and relate those to turnover in the symbiont community as the final symbiont complement is established.The data resulting form the study will bridge an important gap in our understanding of the establishment and maintenance of coral-Symbiodinium symbiosis. Understanding the mechanism(s) regulating the establishment of the symbiosis will broaden our knowledge and help to predict the response of this symbiosis to future climate conditions. As in the past, the genomic tools (arrays, ESTs) will be made readily available to researchers via array distribution at cost, microarray analysis training, or sequence data, providing valuable resources to continue exploring these systems.In conjunction the Aquarium of Niagara, Coffroth will develop educational and outreach programs to train and disseminate information on coral reefs to local area teachers and the general public. The Medina lab will continue to produce science and environment podcasts in multiple languages (English, Spanish and Hmong) with undergraduate students at UC Merced and will continue to collaborate with the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) in their coral reef outreach efforts. Additionally, this work will result in the training and mentoring of a postdoctoral fellow, at least one graduate student and at least 2 undergraduates. Through this project these students will have the opportunity to participate in research in both a lab and field setting, learning a range of ecological, molecular and algal culturing techniques. The extensive culture collection housed at the University at Buffalo is an important resource that is available to researchers worldwide which the proposed funding will help to maintain. Our EST annotations are publicly available through our EST database (http://sequoia.ucmerced.edu/SymBioSys/).