Collaborative Research: Building consensus around the quantification and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity

合作研究：围绕共生科多样性的量化和解释建立共识

• 批准号: 2127514
• 负责人: Adrienne Simoes Correa
• 金额: $ 3.54万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 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: 2021-08-15 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127514&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Building; consensus; around

Single-celled microorganisms are highly diverse and play various roles in the function of natural ecosystems, but it is challenging to recognize how genetic, morphological, and physiological diversity relate to each other in microbial groups. In an exemplary case, micro-algae in the family Symbiodiniaceae comprise many species that can only be distinguished using molecular data. Symbiodinaceae function as symbionts of various marine invertebrates, but are perhaps best known as the key to coral reef ecosystem health and persistence. The team is hosting a virtual workshop in August 2021 to identify and build further consensus among experts regarding the assessment of Symbiodiniaceae diversity. By formalizing consensus approaches and disseminating them broadly, this workshop is creating a more collaborative and welcoming research community and ensuring that all current researchers, as well as those entering the field, feel confident applying for grants, conducting research, and publishing papers that incorporate work on Symbiodiniaceae diversity. This workshop is defining additional forward-thinking research priorities that anticipate methodological advances over the next 5-10 years. Resolving the molecular diversity of microorganisms is a major technical challenge, particularly for dinoflagellates in the family Symbiodiniaceae. These micro-algal endosymbionts that associate with corals and other marine invertebrates feature massive genomes, high repeat content, and other unique aspects that have hindered their molecular characterization. As sequencing technologies have advanced, so too has our understanding of Symbiodiniaceae diversity, which has grown from the presumption of one widespread species in the 1960s to now encompass fifteen divergent genera and likely hundreds of species. This process of discovery has been fraught with controversy, as the most useful phylogenetic marker–the hyperdiverse internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region–is frustratingly difficult to interpret in a consistent manner. The ribosomal array is multicopy, it evolves at different rates in different lineages, and it is subject to concerted evolution, all of which complicate phylogenetic reconstructions. Moreover, sampled coral tissues contain populations of symbiont cells that can potentially be from multiple Symbiodiniaceae taxa, complicating efforts to characterize partner specificity. Early debates focused on the extent to which unique ITS2 sequences indicated the presence of multiple symbiont species or simply multiple intraspecific variants. This central conflict has led to different schools of thought about how flexible coral-algal associations can be, and how they might respond to ongoing climate change. Next-generation sequencing has provided more data, but the same foundational interpretive issues remain. This team is gathering pioneering Symbiodiniaceae experts from around the world (ranging from seasoned veterans to newly-minted PhDs) who all collectively agree that a consensus interpretive framework can and must be identified and advanced in order to move the field forward. The participants are generating a ‘consensus road map’ leading to two workshop products: 1. an NSF white paper; and 2. an open-access, peer-reviewed manuscript. Through pre-workshop surveys, four workshop sessions, post-workshop collaboration, and publication, the team is summarizing current practices and recommending key methods for identifying and analyzing Symbiodiniaceae genetic diversity across three ‘umbrellas’: 1. communities, 2. populations, and 3. strains. The written products from this workshop are being distributed to the wider reef and conservation community by leveraging a separate mini-workshop previously developed for the 2022 International Coral Reef Symposium. Workshop participants are also highlighting new technologies and research priorities for the next decade that should help fill some of the remaining knowledge gaps.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.

单细胞微生物具有高度多样性，在自然生态系统的功能中发挥着各种作用，但要认识到微生物群体中遗传、形态和生理多样性如何相互关联是具有挑战性的。在示例性情况下，共生藻科中的微藻包括许多只能使用分子数据区分的物种。共生藻科作为各种海洋无脊椎动物的共生体，但可能最为人所知的是珊瑚礁生态系统健康和持久性的关键。该团队将于2021年8月举办一个虚拟研讨会，以确定和建立专家之间关于共生藻科多样性评估的进一步共识。通过将共识方法正式化并广泛传播，本次研讨会正在创建一个更具协作性和欢迎性的研究社区，并确保所有当前的研究人员以及那些进入该领域的研究人员有信心申请赠款，进行研究和发表论文，其中包括关于共生藻科多样性的工作。本次研讨会正在确定额外的前瞻性研究优先事项，预计在未来5-10年的方法进步。解决微生物的分子多样性是一个主要的技术挑战，特别是对于共生藻科中的甲藻。这些与珊瑚和其他海洋无脊椎动物相关的微藻内共生体具有大规模的基因组，高重复内容和其他独特的方面，这些方面阻碍了它们的分子特征。随着测序技术的进步，我们对共生藻科多样性的理解也在不断发展，共生藻科从20世纪60年代的一个广泛分布的物种发展到现在的15个不同的属，可能有数百个物种。这一发现过程充满了争议，因为最有用的系统发育标记-高度多样的内部转录间隔区2（ITS 2）区域-令人沮丧地难以以一致的方式解释。核糖体阵列是多拷贝的，它在不同的谱系中以不同的速率进化，并且它受到协同进化，所有这些都使系统发育重建复杂化。此外，采样的珊瑚组织中含有共生体细胞的群体，可能是从多个共生藻科类群，复杂的工作，以表征合作伙伴的特异性。早期的争论集中在独特的ITS 2序列在多大程度上表明存在多个共生物种或简单的多个种内变异。这一核心冲突导致了不同的思想流派，关于珊瑚藻类协会的灵活性，以及它们如何应对持续的气候变化。下一代测序提供了更多的数据，但同样的基本解释问题仍然存在。该团队正在聚集来自世界各地的先驱共生藻科专家（从经验丰富的退伍军人到新晋博士），他们都一致认为，为了推动该领域的发展，可以而且必须确定和推进共识解释框架。与会者正在制定一个“共识路线图”，导致两个研讨会的产品：1。NSF白色纸;和2.一份开放获取的同行评审手稿通过研讨会前的调查，四个研讨会会议，研讨会后的合作，并出版，该小组正在总结目前的做法，并建议识别和分析共生藻科遗传多样性的关键方法在三个“植物”：1。社区，2。人口，3。菌株本次研讨会的书面产品正在通过利用先前为2022年国际珊瑚礁研讨会开发的单独小型研讨会分发给更广泛的珊瑚礁和保护社区。研讨会的参与者还强调了未来十年的新技术和研究重点，这些技术和研究重点应有助于填补一些剩余的知识空白。该奖项反映了NSF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。