Collaborative Research: IMAGiNE: Quantifying Diatom Resilience in an Acidified Ocean

合作研究：IMAGiNE：量化酸化海洋中硅藻的恢复力

• 批准号: 2051212
• 负责人: Virginia Armbrust
• 金额: $ 39.3万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-15 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2051212&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; IMAGiNE; Quantifying; Diatom

This research seeks to investigate how long-term environmental changes like ocean acidification will affect diatoms, a key microscopic phytoplankton forming the basis of many marine food webs. Diatoms account for ~40 percent of the primary production in our oceans, and a shift in their composition and abundance may result in dramatic changes in coastal ecosystems. A stress test will be developed to quantify the “resilience” of diatoms, i.e., the degree to which they can withstand environmental stress such as saturating light, ultraviolet radiation, or increased temperature. By applying this stress test to three model diatoms that inhabit different oceanic environments, Thalassiosira oceanica, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and Thalassiosira pseudonana, this study will uncover whether ocean acidification will have similar or distinct consequences on the future fate of these important organisms. Furthermore, this study will also characterize molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed shifts in the resilience of diatoms. Mechanistic understanding of how ocean acidification might alter the resilience of diatoms will enable predictive and actionable strategies for better environmental stewardship. Additionally, this project will generate new high school curriculum on the concepts of resilience and collapse of complex systems encountered in our everyday life. The curricula will be disseminated widely through teacher training.Diatoms have evolved phenotypic plasticity to survive in fluctuating environments, and the capability to tolerate diverse types of stress. The proposed research addresses the challenge of quantifying how diatoms manage trade-offs between maintaining phenotypic plasticity and devoting resources to mitigating stress, which is central to predicting their resilience in complex environments. The stress test framework will enable the quantification of ecological resilience of a diatom, i.e., the degree to which a diatom population can tolerate a disturbance and persist without changing physiological state. By performing the stress test on three model diatoms representing different ecological niches, and in relevant conditions of current and future oceans (i.e., temperature, CO2, NO3, Fe, and light conditions), this study will allow the prediction of when interactions among specific factors will have synergistic or antagonistic effects on the resilience of diatoms. Systems level analysis of transcriptional (RNA-seq) and physiological changes coupled to hypothesis testing using CRISPR-cas9-based genome editing will provide predictive and mechanistic understanding of changes in diatom resilience in dynamic environments. The resulting knowledge, framework, and tools will serve as predictive indicators to forecast species partitioning and shifts in ecosystem function in changing oceans. Furthermore, the stress test framework and systems approaches will be generalizable to investigate resilience and other complex traits across microbial communities of environmental importance. This award is cofunded by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences.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.

这项研究试图调查海洋酸化等长期环境变化将如何影响硅藻，硅藻是构成许多海洋食物网的基础的关键微型浮游植物。硅藻约占我们海洋初级生产力的40%，其组成和丰度的变化可能会导致沿海生态系统的戏剧性变化。将开发一种压力测试来量化硅藻的“弹性”，即它们能够承受环境压力的程度，如饱和光线、紫外线辐射或升高的温度。通过对居住在不同海洋环境中的三种硅藻模型进行压力测试，这项研究将揭示海洋酸化是否会对这些重要生物的未来命运产生类似或不同的后果。此外，这项研究还将表征导致所观察到的硅藻弹性变化的分子机制。从机械上理解海洋酸化可能如何改变硅藻的弹性，将使更好地管理环境的预测性和可操作性的战略成为可能。此外，这个项目将产生新的高中课程，关于我们日常生活中遇到的复杂系统的弹性和崩溃的概念。课程将通过教师培训广泛传播。硅藻进化出了表型可塑性，能够在多变的环境中生存，并具有承受各种类型压力的能力。拟议的研究解决了量化硅藻如何在维持表型可塑性和投入资源缓解压力之间进行权衡的挑战，这是预测它们在复杂环境中的弹性的核心。压力测试框架将能够量化硅藻的生态弹性，即硅藻种群在不改变生理状态的情况下对干扰和持续的容忍程度。通过对代表不同生态位的三种模型硅藻进行压力测试，以及在当前和未来海洋的相关条件下(即温度、二氧化碳、NO3、Fe和光照条件)，这项研究将能够预测特定因素之间的相互作用何时会对硅藻的弹性产生协同或拮抗作用。转录(RNA-seq)和生理变化的系统水平分析与基于CRISPR-Cas9的基因组编辑的假设检验相结合，将提供对动态环境中硅藻弹性变化的预测性和机械性理解。由此产生的知识、框架和工具将作为预测指标，在不断变化的海洋中预测物种划分和生态系统功能的变化。此外，压力测试框架和系统方法将可推广到研究对环境具有重要意义的微生物群落的弹性和其他复杂特征。该奖项由综合组织系统分部和分子和细胞生物科学部共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。