Elucidating the nature of the symbiosis between reef-building corals and common Endozoicomonas bacteria

阐明造礁珊瑚与常见内生单胞菌之间共生的本质

• 批准号: 2342561
• 负责人: Amy Apprill
• 金额: $ 85.55万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-01 至 2027-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342561&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Elucidating; nature; symbiosis; between; reef

Coral reefs are economically important ecosystems that provide jobs and coastal protection services to over a billion people worldwide. Corals are under threat worldwide from anthropogenic disturbances and climate change, and enhanced knowledge of their biology and health is needed for conservation and restoration solutions. This project will pursue research on a common coral-bacterial relationship with the overall goal of understanding the nature of this symbiosis and to determine if the bacteria provide growth or resilience benefits to the coral. Enhancing coral-bacterial symbiosis knowledge will facilitate more informed decisions about microbial-based interventions in coral health, including probiotics and disease treatments. This project will produce novel data which will advance understanding of coral-bacterial relationships and interactions. The researchers will focus work on corals located on economically important reefs located within the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands. The knowledge gained will be broadly shared by engaging diverse audiences in appropriate formats, including graduate student education and training of undergraduate students through the Emerging Caribbean Scientists program based at the University of Virgin Islands, a minority-serving, historically black university. Outreach to middle and high school students will occur in collaboration with a minority serving, U.S. Virgin Island summer camp. Symbiosis-based lessons will also be presented to to pre-K and elementary school audiences, and a science café style event for all ages. Project findings will be shared through publicly through open access manuscripts and accessible press releases and social media posts.Bacteria belonging to the gammaproteobacterial genus Endozoicomonas are abundantly associated with diverse species of worldwide corals which form the framework supporting biodiverse and economically important reef ecosystems. It is unknown whether these enigmatic symbionts, which often form aggregates within coral tissues, provide benefits or detriments to corals. This project seeks to to understand the relationship between Endozoicomonas and the coral holobiont. Leveraging the Caribbean coral Porites astreoides which naturally occurs on reefs with and without prominent Endozoicomonas symbionts, the investigators will perform a series of field and aquaria experiments and employ a variety of sequencing, stable isotope, visualization and mass spectrometry-based methodologies to examine growth, immune defense and nutrition-based impacts of Endozoicomonas on the coral holobiont. Specifically, this proposal will examine the following aims: 1) Coral Growth - determine if the presence of Endozoicomonas symbionts infers growth benefits to the coral, 2) Immune Defenses - understand if the presence of Endozoicomonas symbionts influences disease onset or resistance in corals and 3) Nutrition - examine if Endozoicomonas symbionts show evidence of nutritional and metabolic interactions with the coral holobiont. Understanding coral-Endozoicomonas interactions will fill a key knowledge gap in the systems biology of corals that may be directly useful for designing coral intervention strategies.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.

珊瑚礁是经济上重要的生态系统，为全球超过10亿人提供就业和海岸保护服务。珊瑚在世界范围内受到人为干扰和气候变化的威胁，需要加强对其生物学和健康的了解，以制定保护和恢复解决方案。该项目将继续研究一种常见的珊瑚-细菌关系，其总体目标是了解这种共生关系的本质，并确定细菌是否对珊瑚的生长或恢复能力有好处。加强对珊瑚-细菌共生关系的了解，将有助于就基于微生物的珊瑚健康干预措施作出更明智的决定，包括益生菌和疾病治疗。该项目将产生新的数据，这将促进对珊瑚-细菌关系和相互作用的理解。研究人员将重点研究位于美国维尔京群岛境内经济上重要的珊瑚礁上的珊瑚。所获得的知识将以适当的形式让不同的受众广泛分享，包括研究生教育和通过维尔京群岛大学（一所服务于少数族裔的历史悠久的黑人大学）的新兴加勒比科学家项目对本科生的培训。与少数族裔服务的美属维尔京群岛夏令营合作，向初高中学生提供服务。以共生为基础的课程也将以幼儿园和小学观众为对象，并为所有年龄段的观众提供科学咖啡馆式的活动。项目成果将通过开放获取稿件、无障碍新闻稿和社交媒体帖子公开分享。伽马变形菌属内生单胞菌与世界各地的多种珊瑚丰富相关，构成了支持生物多样性和经济重要性的珊瑚礁生态系统的框架。这些神秘的共生体经常在珊瑚组织中形成聚集体，它们对珊瑚是有益还是有害，目前还不清楚。本项目旨在了解内植单胞菌和珊瑚全息生物之间的关系。利用天然存在于有或没有突出的内生单胞菌共生体的珊瑚礁上的加勒比珊瑚Porites astreoides，研究人员将进行一系列野外和水族馆实验，并采用各种基于测序、稳定同位素、可视化和质谱的方法来检查内生单胞菌对珊瑚全息生物的生长、免疫防御和营养影响。具体而言，本提案将研究以下目标：1)珊瑚生长-确定内植单胞菌共生体的存在是否推断珊瑚的生长益处；2)免疫防御-了解内植单胞菌共生体的存在是否影响珊瑚的疾病发作或抗性；3)营养-检查内植单胞菌共生体是否显示出与珊瑚全息生物营养和代谢相互作用的证据。了解珊瑚-内生单胞菌的相互作用将填补珊瑚系统生物学的关键知识空白，这可能对设计珊瑚干预策略直接有用。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。