Ontogeny of Symbiosis in a Deep-Sea Bacterially Luminous Fish

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This proposal describes a planning visit to develop an international collaborative research and training project between the U.S. principal investigator (PI) and a Japanese investigator, Atsushi Fukui, at Tokai University in Honshu, Japan. The purpose of the planning visit is to allow the investigators to discuss, coordinate, and finalize the scientific goals, work out the logistics for sample collection and analysis, and develop the student training goals for a project to examine the developmental and microbiological events surrounding the inception of bioluminescent symbiosis in a representative deep-sea macrourid fish. The PI is an expert in the biology of light-emitting bacteria that form bioluminescent symbioses with fish, and the Japanese investigator is an expert in deep-sea fish, with a specialization in larvae and with substantial experience with macrourids. The Japanese investigator will coordinate and host the visit, including scheduling and making arrangements for lodging, meals and local transportation for the U.S. visitor. He will provide facilities for discussions and project planning and laboratory space for preliminary analyses of collected specimens, and he will coordinate and guide sampling cruises on the Tokai University's research and training vessel Hokuto to test and coordinate the logistics for sample collection and analysis.Intellectual merit: Macrourids are abundant, ecologically important fish in the world's oceans, and many depend on symbiosis with luminous bacteria to produce light for seeing and attracting prey and possibly for signaling involved in reproduction. Little is known, however, about the early life histories of these fish, and essentially nothing is known about how and when the fish acquire their symbiotic bacteria and initiate bioluminescent symbiosis, an event essential for their survival. By mapping onto the ontogenetic vertical migration of the fish the developmental timing of formation of tissues for housing the symbiotic bacteria, colonization of those tissues by the bacteria, and maturation of the symbiosis, the project will provide substantial new information and insight into how deep-sea fish, and potentially other vertebrate animals, acquire, accommodate, and function cooperatively with symbiotic bacteria.Broader impacts of the project: The long-term project provides a variety of opportunities for training students in microbiology and ichthyology, and cross-training students in these areas is a major educational goal of the project. Participation of underrepresented minorities in the project will be actively fostered via the well-developed University of Michigan infrastructure for recruiting students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Undergraduate and graduate students will receive training in scientific research through participation in the project and in the communication of science to the general public through participation in development and presentation of a public exhibit on the theme of this project at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History (UMEM), which hosts over 85,000 K-12 and adult visitors yearly. The PI will also present public lectures to the UMEM audience and will incorporate themes and information from this project into undergraduate and graduate level courses that reach 200 to 300 students yearly.