NSFOCE-BSF: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Elucidating adaptive potential through coral holobiont functional integration

珊瑚礁的显著成功可以通过珊瑚动物与其共生微生物群的相互作用来解释，共生微生物群由光合藻类和细菌组成。这种整体生物，或“整体生物”，使珊瑚礁的生态系统具有高度的生物多样性和生产力。然而，这些生态系统正受到快速变化的环境的威胁。本项目旨在整合从细胞到组织水平的信息，以确定适应和适应环境胁迫的关键机制。需要研究的具体领域包括共生体和表观遗传学（珊瑚DNA上调节基因表达的分子“标记”）的作用。这些方面将在夏威夷珊瑚中进行研究，以确定它们是否解释了为什么一些个体对环境扰动敏感或抵抗。拟议项目的结果还将提供重要的基因组资源，这将有助于从根本上理解复杂生物系统在面对波动环境时如何产生紧急（即意想不到的）特性。更广泛的影响将超越科学进步，包括科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的博士后和学生培训。项目产生的数据将用于大学生培训和公众宣传，通过实验工作的视频直播，以及关于共生、基因组学、表观遗传学、遗传和适应等主题的定格动画短片。研究方法和结果将通过夏威夷海洋生物教育系与夏威夷公众分享，并在夏威夷酒店进行演讲，以及通过4-H罗格斯大学的4-H罗格斯科学周六和4-H罗格斯大学夏季科学项目与夏威夷公众分享。共生是生物体之间复杂的生态综合相互作用，为其生存提供了关键的涌现特性。造礁珊瑚和它们的微生物群（一种元生物）之间的关系就是这样，其中营养和生物地球化学循环提供了必要的好处，促进了珊瑚礁的高生产力和钙化。海洋的快速变暖和酸化威胁着这种共生关系。该项目研究了相对抗逆性和应激敏感性珊瑚对温度升高和ph降低等环境扰动的反应。它利用转录组学、表观遗传学和微生物谱分析方法，阐明了珊瑚如何应对环境挑战。除了这种分析之外，BSF以色列合作伙伴的工作将实施强大的分析技术，如网络理论，以检测元生物体中的关键转录中心并量化生物整合。这项工作将为两种生态上重要的珊瑚物种生成应激基因清单，并在（epi）基因组和微生物组水平上了解它们如何对物理环境作出反应。认识到表观遗传机制在珊瑚中的作用，推翻了固有遗传控制的范式，并强调了遗传和表观遗传变异的相互作用，这可能导致新兴的进化和生态相关特性，并对珊瑚礁的未来产生影响。此外，阐明微生物组和宿主对非生物变化的共同贡献将为后生动物宿主-微生物组生物相互作用提供一个重要的模型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The remarkable success of coral reefs is explained by interactions of the coral animal with its symbiotic microbiome that is comprised of photosynthetic algae and bacteria. This total organism, or "holobiont", enables high ecosystem biodiversity and productivity in coral reefs. These ecosystems are, however, under threat from a rapidly changing environment. This project aims to integrate information from the cellular to organismal level to identify key mechanisms of adaptation and acclimatization to environmental stress. Specific areas to be investigated include the role of symbionts and of epigenetics (molecular "marks" on coral DNA that regulate gene expression). These aspects will be studied in Hawaiian corals to determine whether they explain why some individuals are sensitive or resistant to environmental perturbation. Results from the proposed project will also provide significant genomic resources that will contribute to fundamental understanding of how complex biological systems generate emergent (i.e., unexpected) properties when faced with fluctuating environments. Broader impacts will extend beyond scientific advancements to include postdoctoral and student training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Data generated in the project will be used to train university students and do public outreach through live videos of experimental work, and short stop-action animations for topics such as symbiosis, genomics, epigenetics, inheritance, and adaptation. The research approaches and results will be shared with the public in Hawaii through the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology education department and presentations at Hawaiian hotels, as well as at Rutgers University through its 4-H Rutgerscience Saturdays and 4-H Rutgers Summer Science Programs.Symbiosis is a complex and ecologically integrated interaction between organisms that provides emergent properties key to their survival. Such is the case for the relationship between reef-building corals and their microbiome, a meta-organism, where nutritional and biogeochemical recycling provide the necessary benefits that fuel high reef productivity and calcification. The rapid warming and acidification of our oceans threatens this symbiosis. This project addresses how relatively stress resistant and stress sensitive corals react to the environmental perturbations of increased temperature and reduced pH. It utilizes transcriptomic, epigenetic, and microbial profiling approaches, to elucidate how corals respond to environmental challenges. In addition to this profiling, work by the BSF Israeli partner will implement powerful analytical techniques such as network theory to detect key transcriptional hubs in meta-organisms and quantify biological integration. This work will generate a stress gene inventory for two ecologically important coral species and a (epi)genome and microbiome level of understanding of how they respond to the physical environment. Acknowledgment of a role for epigenetic mechanisms in corals overturns the paradigm of hardwired genetic control and highlights the interplay of genetic and epigenetic variation that may result in emergent evolutionary and ecologically relevant properties with implications for the future of reefs. Furthermore, clarifying the joint contribution of the microbiome and host in response to abiotic change will provide an important model in metazoan host-microbiome biotic interactions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.