Collaborative Research: Artificial Coral

这个合作项目开发了受珊瑚启发的人工细胞，并研究了这些人工宿主与活藻类之间的相互作用。珊瑚礁是活珊瑚生物的矿物骨架。它们的颜色来自生活在珊瑚体内的共生藻类，对它们的生存很重要。珊瑚白化是这些内化藻类的损失。为了预测和应对气候变化对珊瑚礁和相关渔业的影响，需要提高对珊瑚-藻类共生的基本了解，但活体共生系统的复杂性使研究复杂化。这个项目正在开发人工珊瑚，作为简单的、无生命的模型“生物”，作为剖析珊瑚-藻类关系的生物化学的起点。该项目还召集了不同群体的公众讨论，以更多地了解美国公众对在气候迅速变化的时代建造这种人工珊瑚所带来的社会和环境效益以及风险的看法。这些讨论为科学家和工程师反思设计细胞构建的意义以及对设计细胞科学家、普通公众、K-12学生和决策者的社会科学教育提供了证据基础。两种人造珊瑚细胞被设计用来捕捉珊瑚的关键功能，它们是由无生命的分子部分自下而上组装而成的。第一个，灵感来自珊瑚的口腔胃皮细胞，设计参与与活的鞭毛藻共生关系。第二个是用来存放矿物骨架的，就像珊瑚的抗钙细胞一样。该项目有四个目标：1)捕获和维持人工共生液泡内的活藻细胞；2)构建具有矿化能力的人工造钙质隔室；3)将物镜1和物镜2的人工细胞结合，得到光合作用与钙化相结合的活藻共生；4)召集公众审议小组，同时探讨对人工珊瑚、比较合成细胞、自下而上合成生物学和美国创新体系的看法。这些无生命的人工珊瑚细胞通过极大地简化宿主生物化学，为探索珊瑚-藻类共生关系的关键方面提供了一个新的平台。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 collaborative project develops coral-inspired artificial cells and studies the interactions between these artificial hosts and living algae. Coral reefs are the accumulated mineral skeletons of living coral organisms. Their color comes from symbiotic algae that live inside the corals and are important to their survival. Coral bleaching is the loss of these internalized algae. Improved basic understanding of coral-algae symbioses is needed to predict and combat the effects of climate change on coral reefs and associated fisheries, but the complexity of living symbiotic systems complicates study. This project is developing artificial corals that serve as simple, nonliving model "organisms" as a beginning point to dissect the biological chemistry of the coral-algae relationship. The project also convenes public deliberations with diverse groups to learn more about the American public’s perceptions of the social and environmental benefits and risks posed by construction of such artificial coral in a time of rapid climate change. These deliberations provide an evidence base for reflection, among scientists and engineers, about the implications of designer cell construction and for science in society education of designer cell scientists-in-training, lay publics, K-12 students, and policymakers.Two types of artificial coral cells, designed to capture key functions of coral, are being constructed by bottom-up assembly from nonliving molecular parts. The first, inspired by coral's oral gastroderm cells, is designed to participate in a symbiotic relationship with living dinoflagellate algae. The second is designed to deposit mineral skeletons, as do the coral calicobastic cells. The project has four objectives: 1) Capture and maintenance of living algal cells within artificial symbiosome vacuoles; 2) Construct a mineralization-capable artificial calicoblastic compartment; 3) Combine the artificial cells of objectives 1 and 2 to obtain live algal symbiosis that combines photosynthesis and calcification; 4) Convene public deliberative groups that concurrently explore perceptions of artificial coral, comparative synthetic cells, bottom-up synthetic biology, and the US innovation system. These nonliving artificial coral cells provide a new platform for probing crucial aspects of the coral-algae mutualism responsible for coral reefs by greatly simplifying host biochemistry.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.