DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Ecological Role of Fluorescence in a Reef-building Coral

论文研究：荧光在造礁珊瑚中的生态作用

• 批准号: 1501463
• 负责人: Mikhail Matz
• 金额: $ 2.01万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1501463&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Ecological; Role; Fluorescence

Reef-building corals are declining worldwide, largely due to negative anthropogenic effects on their habitats. Efforts to mitigate the loss of this economically and ecologically critical group of organisms is hindered by our lack of understanding of their basic biological processes, including the function of specific genes. In typical model organisms such as fruit fly or mouse, the function of a gene is tested by investigating the consequence of its artificial silencing, a process termed "knockdown". The authors propose to develop knockdown methods for studying functions of coral genes, starting with the genes encoding fluorescent proteins. These proteins are natural visible markers of gene activity, making it straightforward to confirm the efficiency of their knockdown. In addition, the authors plan to verify a hypothesis that these proteins play a specific role in facilitating larval dispersal, a trait that may allow coral populations to recover rapidly after disturbances. The PIs will also engage in teaching coral biology to high school students from underrepresented groups, and in other community outreach activities.Specific gene knockdown is a technical challenge that has not yet been met in corals. The project will test several alternative methods of gene silencing and assess the direct effect of these procedures on the quantity of fluorescent proteins as well as their effects on physiological parameters associated with larval dispersal. In addition to addressing this specific improvement on this Dissertation, the availability of coral gene knockdown method will open up rich opportunities for in-depth analysis of gene function in the context of animal development, adaptation, and evolution.

造礁珊瑚在世界范围内正在减少，主要是由于人类对其栖息地的负面影响。由于我们对这类生物的基本生物过程，包括特定基因的功能缺乏了解，因此，减少这类生物在经济和生态上至关重要的群体的损失的努力受到阻碍。在典型的模式生物如果蝇或小鼠中，基因的功能是通过研究其人工沉默的结果来测试的，这一过程称为“敲低”。作者建议开发敲除方法来研究珊瑚基因的功能，从编码荧光蛋白的基因开始。这些蛋白质是基因活性的天然可见标记，因此可以直接确认其敲除效率。此外，作者计划验证一个假设，即这些蛋白质在促进幼虫扩散方面发挥特定作用，这一特性可能使珊瑚种群在干扰后迅速恢复。PI还将参与向来自代表性不足群体的高中生教授珊瑚生物学，以及其他社区外展活动。特定基因敲除是珊瑚尚未遇到的技术挑战。该项目将测试几种基因沉默的替代方法，并评估这些程序对荧光蛋白数量的直接影响以及它们对与幼虫扩散有关的生理参数的影响。除了解决这一具体的改进本论文，珊瑚基因敲除方法的可用性将开辟丰富的机会，深入分析基因功能的背景下，动物的发展，适应和进化。