IRFP: Sensory Biology of Coral Larvae: The Role of Opsins and Olfactory Receptors in Larval Behavior, Settlement and Metamorphosis

IRFP：珊瑚幼虫的感觉生物学：视蛋白和嗅觉受体在幼虫行为、定居和变态中的作用

• 批准号: 1158967
• 负责人: Benjamin Mason
• 金额: $ 17.67万
• 依托单位: Mason Benjamin M
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1158967&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRFP; Sensory; Biology; Coral; Larvae

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Benjamin Mason to work with Drs. David Miller and Andrew Baird at James Cook University in Townsville, QLD, Australia and Dr. Akihisa Terakita at Osaka City University in Osaka, Japan.Coral reefs around the world are in a state of decline. The addition of new individuals via recruitment (larval settlement, metamorphosis and survival to maturity) is one factor that is considered critical to the resilience and recovery of coral populations. Habitat selection during settlement plays a critical role in determining whether a coral will survive. Light and chemicals are the dominant cues guiding habitat selection, settlement and metamorphosis, yet the sensory mechanisms responsible for their detection are unknown. This research investigates the sensory mechanisms involved in the detection of chemical and light cues by coral larvae. It utilizes new molecular resources (coral genome and transcriptome databases) to investigate the cellular localization, biochemistry and ecological function of candidate photoreceptor (opsins) and chemoreceptor (olfactory and odorant receptor) genes in coral planulae.This research establishes molecular bases for the sensory mechanisms involved in larval settlement and metamorphosis, processes critical to the resilience and persistence of coral reefs, and has implications for coral aquaculture, restoration and reef rehabilitation efforts which rely on these processes. Also, due to the ancient phylogenetic origin of corals, this research provides new insights into the evolution of sensory systems (visual, olfactory and taste) in higher organisms, and it offers potential for the discovery of genes and signaling pathways with novel functions and applications. In addition to advancing our understanding of mechanisms involved in coral settlement and metamorphosis, improving coral reef restoration and providing insight into the evolution of sensory systems, this research will forge international collaboration between the PI and researchers (Drs. David Miller and Andrew Baird) at James Cook University in Townsville, QLD, Australia, (Dr. Akihisa Terakita) at Osaka City University in Osaka, Japan and (Dr. Vladlen Slepak) at the University of Miami, in Miami, FL, USA.

国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及使用国外独特或互补的设施，专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持本杰明·梅森博士与澳大利亚昆士兰州汤斯维尔詹姆斯库克大学的大卫米勒和安德鲁·贝尔德博士以及日本大坂市大坂市立大学的寺田昭久博士进行为期24个月的研究。通过补充（幼虫定居、变态和存活至成熟）增加新个体被认为是珊瑚种群复原力和恢复的关键因素之一。定居期间的栖息地选择在决定珊瑚是否存活方面起着关键作用。光和化学物质是指导栖息地选择、定居和变态的主要线索，但负责检测它们的感觉机制尚不清楚。本研究探讨了珊瑚幼虫在检测化学和光线索的感觉机制。它利用新的分子资源（珊瑚基因组和转录组数据库）研究候选光感受器（视蛋白）和化学感受器的细胞定位、生物化学和生态功能（嗅觉和气味受体）基因。这项研究为涉及幼虫定居和变态的感觉机制建立了分子基础，这些机制对珊瑚礁的恢复力和持久性至关重要，并对依赖这些过程的珊瑚水产养殖、恢复和珊瑚礁复原工作产生影响。此外，由于珊瑚的古老系统发育起源，这项研究为高等生物感觉系统（视觉，嗅觉和味觉）的进化提供了新的见解，并为发现具有新功能和应用的基因和信号通路提供了潜力。 除了增进我们对珊瑚定居和变形机制的理解，改善珊瑚礁的恢复，并提供对感觉系统进化的见解外，这项研究还将促进PI和研究人员之间的国际合作。（大卫米勒和安德鲁贝尔德博士）在澳大利亚昆士兰州汤斯维尔的詹姆斯库克大学，（Akihisa Terakita博士）和（Vladlen Slepak博士）分别在日本大坂的大坂市立大学和美国佛罗里达州迈阿密的迈阿密大学工作。