OCE-PRF: Drivers of phenotypic diversity and adaptation in asexually propagating coral populations

OCE-PRF：无性繁殖珊瑚种群表型多样性和适应的驱动因素

• 批准号: 2126612
• 负责人: Karina Scavo
• 金额: $ 31.78万
• 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: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126612&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OCE; PRF; Drivers; phenotypic; diversity

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).In this era of rapid environmental change and degradation, the survival of marine organisms will depend largely upon their ability to tolerate increasing environmental stress. However, the processes that drive resilience (e.g., the relative contribution of genetic versus environmental factors) remain largely a mystery. Corals are a major focus of current studies on organismal resilience because they are undergoing a worldwide decline, and they are so important for both the health of the oceans and the welfare of coastal communities. Corals often occupy and build habitats through asexual reproduction (production of clones), and it is widely assumed that such asexual populations may lack sufficient genetic diversity to respond to diverse environmental stressors. However, few previous studies have quantified the effects of asexual reproduction on the ability of corals to respond to environmental change. This research explores the different mechanisms that contribute to differences in coral stress response among two predominately clonal populations of the Caribbean thin finger coral (Porites divaricata) dwelling in distinct habitat types (mangroves vs. reef). This research will illuminate the drivers of organismal resilience, potentially impacting ongoing coral conservation and restoration efforts. It will also broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by encouraging active participation by local community members, students and scientists at the University of Belize, as well as providing unique training opportunities for next-generation scientists at the interface of field marine ecology and genomics. Importantly, these results will be communicated to a wide audience through diverse venues, including technical reports and management recommendations provided for government agencies and non-profit Belizean conservation organizations, popular articles and curricular materials for the community at large, and peer-reviewed manuscripts and presentations targeted to the scientific community.Among conservation biologists and ecologists, there is an urgent effort underway to understand the causes of diversity in traits impacting organismal survival and reproduction. If we are to understand how natural populations will respond to environmental change, it is critical to understand how genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors impact resilience. Such studies have advanced significantly in many plant species, but they are only just beginning to be applied to animals like corals. As in many plants, the model species used here— Caribbean thin finger coral (Porites divaricata)–reproduces primarily asexually, allowing us to compare the performance of clones in different environments and isolate the effects of genotype, epigenetics (namely DNA methylation), environment, and somatic mutations on variation in stress-related coral traits. Specially, combining fully-crossed reciprocally transplanted coral ramets across mangrove and reef sites with genomic and methylation sequencing data, this research will evaluate 1) the role of intra-genet variation accumulated during asexual reproduction in facilitating adaptation in the mangrove population, relative to roles of between-genet variation and phenotypic plasticity, 2) assess the role of new DNA methylation states, and 3) measure the rate of accumulation of new DNA methylation marks and base-changes during asexual reproduction. Results from this research effort will advance our understanding of the role of mechanisms like DNA methylation and somatic mutations in driving phenotypic variation in critical stress-response traits and how these mutations accumulate over time, provide insight into how such mechanisms are generated and inherited across asexual generations, build upon the sparse understanding of the role of novel habitat types, i.e. mangroves, in coral ecology and evolution; and generate novel molecular resources including the first reference genome assembly for the non-model coral, P. divaricata.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.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》的全部或部分资助（公共法117-2）。在这个快速的环境变化和退化的时代，海洋生物的生存将在很大程度上取决于它们容忍增加环境压力的能力。但是，驱动弹性的过程（例如，遗传因素与环境因素的相对贡献）在很大程度上仍然是神秘的。珊瑚是当前关于生物韧性研究的主要重点，因为它们处于全球衰落状态，并且它们对海洋的健康和沿海社区的福利都非常重要。珊瑚经常通过无性繁殖（生产克隆）占据并建立栖息地，并且广泛认为，无性群体可能缺乏足够的遗传多样性来应对不同的环境压力。但是，以前很少有研究量化了无性繁殖对珊瑚对环境变化反应能力的影响。这项研究探讨了导致两种主要栖息地类型（Mangroves vs. Reef）的加勒比薄指珊瑚（Porites diaricata）的主要克隆种群中珊瑚应力反应差异的不同机制。这项研究将阐明有机弹性的驱动因素，可能影响持续的珊瑚保护和恢复工作。它还将通过鼓励伯利兹大学的当地社区成员，学生和科学家的积极参与，并在现场海洋生态学和基因组学界面为下一代科学家提供独特的培训机会，从而扩大代表性不足的群体的参与。重要的是，这些结果将通过潜水场所传达给广大的受众，包括为政府机构和非营利性伯利兹保护组织提供的技术报告和管理建议，广受欢迎的文章和当前社区的材料，以及由同行评审的手稿以及针对科学社区的同行评审的介绍，以了解科学的生物学家和生态学家的范围。繁殖。如果我们要了解自然种群将如何应对环境变化，那么了解遗传，表观遗传和环境因素如何影响弹性至关重要。这些研究在许多植物物种中都显着发展，但它们才刚刚开始应用于珊瑚等动物。与许多植物一样，这里使用的模型物种 - 加勒比薄手指珊瑚（Porites divaricata） - 主要产生主要是无性效果的，使我们能够比较不同环境中克隆的性能，并隔离基因型，表观遗传学的影响，表观遗传学（即DNA甲基化），环境和体细胞突变对应力式的coral coral coral coral coral ratiation coral coral ratiation coral retailated coral retaits artsal retaits arrated coral retaits。特定的，具有基因组和甲基化测序数据的跨树林和礁石位点的全面交叉的相互交流性状结合，这项研究将评估1）在亚麻内变异加速在逐渐塑料中，相对于基因塑料的连续性，在无性变化中加速了基因内变异的作用。在无性繁殖过程中，新的DNA甲基化标记和基碱变换的积累速率。这项研究工作的结果将提高我们对临界应力反应性状中驱动表型变化等机制的作用的理解，以及这些突变如何随着时间的推移积累，提供对这种机制的产生和遗传的见解，如何建立在无性恋中，建立在新的生物阶段的角色上，即对新的生物学类型的作用，即Mangry。并产生新的分子资源，包括非模型珊瑚的首个参考基因组组装，P。divaricata。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，通过评估被认为是珍贵的支持。