The role of the microbiome in coral bleaching - Friends or Foes?

微生物组在珊瑚白化中的作用 - 朋友还是敌人？

• 批准号: 2569592
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2569592
• 关键词: role; microbiome; coral; bleaching; Friends

Shallow-water coral reef ecosystems are on decline globally, with heat stress anddeteriorating water quality identified as major causes of coral bleaching and subsequentmass mortality (1,2). The main habitat-founding species, scleractinian corals, are describedas a holobiont formed by the coral host animal, its endosymbiotic dinoflagellates and the'coral microbiome' - constituted by highly diverse and abundant communities of microbesliving on and within the coral. While intense research efforts have focused on how the animalhosts and dinoflagellate symbionts respond to environmental stress, recent evidencesuggests that the coral microbiome changes along environmental gradients and that thisprocess may influence coral resilience to stress (3). Although marine microbes are knownto be key drivers of global biogeochemical cycles; their exact functional roles in the coralholobiont remain unknown. It is unclear how specific environmental parameters shape thestructure of coral microbiome, and which specific mechanisms and microbes drive thehealthy functioning of the holobiont. This project aims to study how environmental multistressors,especially heat and nutrient stress, influence the composition of the microbiomeand their interactions with their hosts in different coral species; thus affecting the resilienceof corals and their capacity to recover from bleaching events.

全球浅水珊瑚礁生态系统正在衰退，热应力和水质恶化被确定为珊瑚漂白和大规模死亡的主要原因（1，2）。主要的栖息地建立物种，scleractinian珊瑚，被描述为由珊瑚宿主动物，其内共生的腰鞭毛虫和“珊瑚微生物组”形成的holobiont-由高度多样性和丰富的微生物群落组成，生活在珊瑚上和珊瑚内。虽然密集的研究工作集中在动物宿主和甲藻共生体如何应对环境压力，但最近的证据表明，珊瑚微生物组沿着环境梯度变化，这一过程可能会影响珊瑚对压力的恢复力（3）。虽然海洋微生物被认为是全球海洋地球化学循环的关键驱动力，但它们在珊瑚生物中的确切功能仍然未知。目前还不清楚特定的环境参数如何塑造珊瑚微生物组的结构，以及哪些特定的机制和微生物驱动了全生物的健康功能。该项目旨在研究环境多重压力，特别是热量和营养压力如何影响微生物组的组成及其与不同珊瑚物种宿主的相互作用;从而影响珊瑚的耐受性及其从漂白事件中恢复的能力。