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

这一行动为NSF 2022财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。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提高人类人口的粮食安全。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的兴盛或死亡。这项研究将有助于阐明珊瑚微生物群在珊瑚礁重建过程中的生态作用。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将是重要的。该项目将把分子和生态学方法与珊瑚礁恢复技术结合起来，以了解珊瑚礁的环境和宏观/微观生物成分如何导致生态系统功能的成功。这项实验将在拉诺贝湾进行，这是一条32公里长的海岸线，是马达加斯加西南部13个村庄的家园。这包括使用现场控制前-控制-影响后研究设计，调查珊瑚微生物群和当地环境的微生物和病毒动力学，评估从健康的共同花园播种8个人工珊瑚礁的效果。利用微生物/病毒基因组技术的组合，将对珊瑚礁微生物群选择、微生物功能和水平基因流动进行量化和评估。这项研究突出了以珊瑚礁为模型生态系统的生命规律，以调查基因组(珊瑚礁生物及其微生物)、它们的环境以及它们在重建珊瑚礁以进行恢复的背景下的表型反应之间的相互作用。培训目标将包括教学、参与以及与研究区域的当地社区和机构合作。这包括指导和培训马达加斯加的学生进行海洋分子研究，增加海洋科学中的种族和文化多样性，公共传播，建立珊瑚礁和人类健康监测的数据资源，开发珊瑚礁恢复工具以改善营养不良人口的食物安全，以及监测人类健康的水质。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。

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.