NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Viral-microbial Founder Effects, Horizontal Gene Transfer, and Adaptation on Successional Coral Reefs

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2022财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式为《生活规则》领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。这一研究项目将提供关键的技术和信息，包括改善海洋环境的健康和增加人口的粮食安全。总体目标是建立健康的珊瑚礁栖息地，以增加海洋食物资源和其他生态产品和服务。事实上，细菌和病毒群落的组成及其轨迹决定了珊瑚礁是繁荣还是死亡。本研究将有助于揭示珊瑚微生物群在珊瑚礁重建中的生态作用。因此，这项工作对于监测这些珊瑚礁的健康状况和了解它们增加生态系统服务的能力非常重要。它还将包括为学生提供指导，并就这些全球规模的问题向不同的公众提供服务。该项目将结合分子和生态学方法与珊瑚礁恢复技术，了解珊瑚礁的环境和宏观/微生物成分如何导致生态系统功能的成功。实验将在Ranobe湾进行，Ranobe湾是马达加斯加西南部13个村庄的所在地，海岸线长达32公里。这包括调查珊瑚微生物群和当地环境的微生物和病毒动态，使用控制影响前后的原位研究设计，评估从健康的普通花园中播种八个人工珊瑚礁的有效性。结合微生物/病毒基因组技术，珊瑚礁微生物组选择、微生物功能和水平基因流将被量化和评估。本研究强调了使用珊瑚礁作为模型生态系统的生命规则，以研究基因组（珊瑚礁生物及其微生物），环境及其在重建珊瑚礁恢复背景下的表型反应之间的相互作用。培训目标将包括教学、参与以及与研究地区的当地社区和机构合作。这包括在海洋分子研究方面指导和培训马达加斯加学生，增加海洋科学方面的种族和文化多样性，加强公共交流，建立监测珊瑚礁和人类健康的数据资源，开发珊瑚礁恢复工具以改善营养不良人口的粮食安全，以及监测水质以促进人类健康。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research project will contribute crucial techniques and information which include improving the health of the marine environment and increasing food security for human populations. The overarching goal is to build healthy coral reef habitat in order to increase marine food resources and other ecological goods and services. Indeed, bacterial and viral community composition and its trajectory determines whether a coral reef thrives or dies. This study will help to shed light on the ecological role of coral microbiome in the context of rebuilding coral reefs. Therefore, this work will be important in monitoring the health of these reefs and understanding their capacity to increase ecosystem services. It will also include mentoring students and outreach that will extend to a diverse public audience on these global scale issues.This project will combine molecular and ecological approaches with coral reef restoration technologies to understand how environmental and macro-/micro-organismal components of coral reefs lead to success of ecosystem functioning. The experiment will be conducted in Ranobe Bay, a 32 km coastline that is home to 13 villages in southwest Madagascar. This consists of investigating the microbial and viral dynamics of the coral microbiome and local environment using an in situ before-after-control-impact study design assessing the effectiveness of seeding eight artificial reefs from a healthy common garden. Using a combination of microbial/viral genomic techniques, coral reef microbiome selection, microbial function, and horizontal gene flow will be quantified and assessed. This study highlights the rules of life using coral reefs as a model ecosystem to investigate the interactions between genomes (coral reef organisms and their microbes), their environment, and their phenotypic response in the context of rebuilding reefs for restoration. Training objectives will consist of teaching, engagement, and working alongside local communities and institutions in the study region. This includes mentoring and training Malagasy students in marine molecular research, increasing racial and cultural diversity in marine science, public communication, building data resources for reef and human health monitoring, developing reef restoration tools to improve food security for malnourished human populations, and monitoring water quality for human health.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.