Collaborative Research: Dimensions: Coevolution of scleractinian corals and their associated microorganisms

合作研究：维度：石珊瑚及其相关微生物的共同进化

• 批准号: 1442306
• 负责人: Rebecca Vega
• 金额: $ 109.6万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1442306&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Dimensions; Coevolution; scleractinian

Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse marine ecosystems on the planet, and provide substantial economic and ecological benefits to coastal communities. Corals are composed of both the Cnidarian animal host and complex communities of unique and underexplored microbial organisms. Today these natural wonders are in global decline, threatened by the intersecting effects of multiple stressors including overfishing, pollution, and climate change. These stressors can alter coral microbial communities in ways that may contribute to the susceptibility of corals to disease or overgrowth by algae. Therefore, understanding the relationships between corals and their microbiota may be useful for efforts to understand coral disease and preserve reef ecosystems. The microbial diversity of coral species in many diverse and ancient groups of corals remains unexplored, but understanding these communities will help to extend the knowledge gained in well-studied corals to diverse reefs worldwide. This project aims to describe microbial diversity across all major groups of reef-building corals in each of several distinct ecosystems across the globe, to determine the genome sequences and metabolic capabilities of key coral bacteria, and to test whether the composition of coral microbial communities helps to explain the overall vulnerability or resistance of different coral species to stress or disease. The project includes plans for maximizing public access, scientific community building, and training opportunities for early-career scientists. The project will fund two hispanic principal investigators, two PhD students, and two postdoctoral researchers in laboratory and field research - and also in key computational techniques for managing "Big Data". Project funds will support an extension of a program of collaborative, multilingual scientific podcasts; establishment of recurring science cafes; K-5 coral reef educational modules tested successfully for incorporation into the curriculum in the State College School District; and educational video segments. Coral species differ in their susceptibility to bleaching and disease, but these differences are only partially explained by coral phylogeny. Therefore this project will test the extent to which incorporating the microbiota (or their contributed genes) better predicts these and other traits. Recent technological advances have broadened understanding of how complex microbiomes shape the life history, physiology, and evolution of their multicellular hosts (e.g., the human microbiome). The use of newly developed DNA sequencing techniques will allow a more complete exploration of microbial diversity in corals than has previously been feasible, while advanced computational methods will help to maximize the value of sequenced bacterial genomes. Improved predictive models that incorporate both coral phylogeny and microbial function will help inform conservation strategies and yield predictive biomarkers for coral vulnerability to disease or bleaching. Relating the diversity of corals to the diversity of their microbes will also provide important insights into how intimate symbiotic associations with microorganisms arose and are maintained in diverse animals.

珊瑚礁是地球上生物学上最多样化的海洋生态系统之一，并为沿海社区提供了巨大的经济和生态利益。珊瑚既由cnidarian动物宿主和独特和未倍增的微生物生物的复杂社区组成。如今，这些自然奇观正在全球下降，受到多种压力源（包括过度捕获，污染和气候变化）的相交影响的威胁。这些压力源可以改变珊瑚微生物群落，以可能导致珊瑚对疾病或藻类过度生长的敏感性。因此，了解珊瑚与其微生物群之间的关系可能对理解珊瑚病和保护礁生态系统的努力可能是有用的。许多多样化和古老的珊瑚群中的珊瑚物种的微生物多样性尚未探索，但是了解这些社区将有助于扩展研究良好的珊瑚的知识到全世界的各种珊瑚礁。该项目旨在描述全球几个不同的生态系统中每个主要生态系统中所有主要的珊瑚礁珊瑚的微生物多样性，以确定关键珊瑚细菌的基因组序列和代谢能力，并测试珊瑚微生物群落的组成是否有助于解释不同珊瑚对压力或疾病的整体脆弱性或抵抗。该项目包括最大化公共访问，科学社区建设以及为早期科学家的培训机会的计划。该项目将资助两名西班牙裔首席研究人员，两名博士生和两名实验室和现场研究的博士后研究人员，以及用于管理“大数据”的关键计算技术。项目资金将支持一项协作，多语言科学播客计划的扩展；建立经常出现的科学咖啡馆； K-5珊瑚礁教育模块成功地测试了纳入州立大学学区的课程；和教育视频片段。 珊瑚物种在对漂白和疾病的敏感性上有所不同，但是这些差异仅以珊瑚系统发育来部分解释。因此，该项目将测试掺入微生物群（或其贡献基因）的程度更好地预测这些和其他特征。最近的技术进步扩大了对复杂微生物组如何塑造其多细胞宿主（例如人类微生物组）的生命史，生理学和进化的理解。新开发的DNA测序技术的使用将允许对珊瑚的微生物多样性进行更完整的探索，而先进的计算方法将有助于最大程度地提高测序细菌基因组的价值。改进的预测模型既包含珊瑚系统发育和微生物功能，将有助于为保护策略提供信息，并产生预测性生物标志物，以促进珊瑚易受疾病或漂白的脆弱性。将珊瑚的多样性与微生物的多样性联系起来还将提供重要的见解，以了解与微生物如何与微生物产生并保持在多种动物中。