BRC-BIO: Effects of insecticides on survival and metamorphosis of the upside-down jellyfish, Cassiopea xamachana, and its symbiotic community

BRC-BIO：杀虫剂对倒置水母 Cassiopea xamachana 及其共生群落的生存和变态的影响

• 批准号: 2233333
• 负责人: Allison Kerwin
• 金额: $ 43.74万
• 依托单位: McDaniel College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2026-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233333&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRC; BIO; Effects; insecticides; survival

Coral reefs are of tremendous ecological importance and also provide economic and social value through coastal protection, tourism, and as a source of food and pharmaceuticals. Further, they are complex organisms that have a diverse bacterial community living on and in their cells (comprising a holobiont, the organism and its symbionts). However, there are significant limitations to the study of these holobionts. In this project, the closely-related upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) is developed as a model for understanding environmental effects on nearshore corals. These jellyfish contain a similar but less complex bacterial community, are abundant, uncomplicated to collect, and easy to study under laboratory conditions. Using insecticide exposure (associated with mosquito control) as a common near shore stressor, the project will quantify the effects of exposure on survival and changes in growth of all members of the holobiont, as well as changes in the function and interactions of the jellyfish bacterial microbiome. In addition to the potential to learn more about processes that will affect the coral community in the Florida Keys, this project will allow more undergraduate students to access scientific research and the field of biology, giving them an opportunity to consider research-based careers. By expanding undergraduate research at an institution with a high proportion of first-generation students and students of color, the voices involved in biology research can be broadened, while also bringing new ways of thinking and approaching problems to the scientific community.The overarching theme of this project is to advance the C. xamachana photosymbiotic holobiont as an experimental system for studies on cnidarian associated individual microbes, the photosymbiont, and the polyp holobiont as well as the impact of insecticide exposure on these systems. The diverse cnidarian holobiont with its complex life cycle offers many potential targets also allows for the diverse ways insecticides that reach coastal waters. However, little work has been done to investigate the effects of insecticide exposure on coral survival, nor on the photosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae or bacterial/archaeal microbiome which are integral to cnidarian health. C. xamachana is the ideal system to begin to discriminate the roles each microbial member plays in the response of a photosymbiotic cnidarian life cycle to insecticide exposure. C. xamachana exhibits an asexual polyp life stage that is only terminated after the establishment of photosymbiosis, an event accompanied by a distinct developmental transition from sessile polyp to juvenile medusa. Changes in bacterial gene expression in response to insecticide exposure during that developmental transition will be interrogated using next-generation sequencing. High-resolution microscopy and fluorescence in situ hybridization will localize bacteria of interest in the jellyfish. By combining these approaches with an examination of polyp nerve net function and growth of individual Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial cultures we can understand how exposure to the three insecticides used for mosquito control in the Florida Keys affects the diverse cnidarian holobiont. These results can inform conservation decisions on the Florida reef tract, threatened by a severe disease outbreak that may more strongly impact stressed corals, such as those exposed to insecticides.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.

珊瑚礁具有巨大的生态重要性，并通过海岸保护、旅游业以及作为食物和药品的来源提供经济和社会价值。此外，它们是复杂的生物体，具有生活在其细胞上和细胞中的多种细菌群落（包括全生生物、生物体及其共生体）。然而，对这些全生生物的研究有很大的局限性。在这个项目中，密切相关的倒置水母（Cassiopea xamachana）被开发为了解环境对近岸珊瑚影响的模型。这些水母含有类似但不太复杂的细菌群落，数量丰富，收集不复杂，易于在实验室条件下研究。该项目将杀虫剂暴露（与蚊虫控制有关）作为海岸附近的一种常见应激源，量化暴露对全生物所有成员的生存和生长变化的影响，以及水母细菌微生物组的功能和相互作用的变化。除了有可能更多地了解将影响佛罗里达群岛珊瑚群落的过程外，该项目还将使更多的本科生能够接触科学研究和生物学领域，使他们有机会考虑以研究为基础的职业。通过在第一代学生和有色人种学生比例较高的机构扩大本科生研究，可以拓宽生物学研究的声音，同时也为科学界带来新的思维方式和解决问题的方法。xamachana光共生全生物体作为研究刺胞动物相关的单个微生物、光共生体和水螅全生物体以及杀虫剂暴露对这些系统的影响的实验系统。刺胞动物的多样性及其复杂的生命周期提供了许多潜在的目标，也允许不同的方式杀虫剂到达沿海沃茨。然而，很少有工作已经做了调查杀虫剂暴露对珊瑚生存的影响，也没有对光共生共生共生菌科或细菌/古菌微生物，这是不可或缺的刺胞动物的健康。C. Xamachana是开始区分每个微生物成员在光共生刺胞动物生命周期对杀虫剂暴露的响应中所起作用的理想系统。C. xamachana表现出一个无性的水螅生命阶段，只有在建立光共生关系后才终止，这一事件伴随着从固着水螅到幼年水母的明显发育过渡。将使用下一代测序技术研究细菌基因表达在发育过渡期对杀虫剂暴露的反应。高分辨率显微镜和荧光原位杂交将定位水母中感兴趣的细菌。通过将这些方法与息肉神经网络功能和单个共生藻科和细菌培养物的生长的检查相结合，我们可以了解如何暴露于用于在佛罗里达群岛控制蚊子的三种杀虫剂影响不同的刺胞动物holobiont。这些结果可以为佛罗里达珊瑚礁区的保护决策提供信息，这些珊瑚礁区受到严重疾病爆发的威胁，可能会对受到压力的珊瑚产生更强烈的影响，例如那些接触杀虫剂的珊瑚。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。