The role of sponge competition in cold-water coral reefs - ROV video analyses and secondary metabolite profiling

珊瑚礁对气候调节、粮食和能源供应具有重要意义，具有生物勘探和文化服务的潜力。与热带珊瑚礁不同，冷水珊瑚（CWC）可以在黑暗中生长，生长缓慢，依靠自己捕捉食物。由于其地处偏远、人迹罕至的特点，对CWC珊瑚礁生物的生态相互作用（竞争、共生）和生物勘探的研究很少。这个为期4年的跨学科博士项目将通过整合以下数据来研究海绵Mycale lingua的生态作用：(a)十多年的远程操作车辆（ROV）视频数据，(b)次级代谢物分析，(c)微生物组DNA分析，以寻找与医学和生态相关的化合物。挪威CWC Tisler Reef的海绵M. lingua密度很高，据推测，以前的拖网破坏削弱了珊瑚礁，给海绵提供了竞争优势，现在似乎过度生长在珊瑚礁上。然而，没有证据表明这一点，相反，海绵已知可以提供和回收有益于CWC珊瑚礁的营养物质。ROV视频将用于观察海绵生长模式的长期空间和时间变化。这将与作为ASSEMBLE Plus AmpLOPHELIA项目的一部分收集的海绵的次级代谢物谱（代谢组）数据相结合，以及次级代谢物是否为海绵提供竞争优势。海绵的代谢组将使用液相色谱-质谱联用和质谱联用进行分析。将收集更多的样本来显示代谢组在空间和时间上的变化。将鉴定独特的代谢物簇，分离化合物，并使用光谱方法确定结构。这将允许在各种生态学和医学相关的生物分析中评估化合物的生物活性，并为今后对舌蝇的化学生态学研究铺平道路。海绵微生物组的分析将通过分离海绵微生物组的宏基因组和使用相关引物分析DNA，然后进行测序和生物信息学分析。宏基因组和代谢组的变化将使我们能够得出结论，哪些因素使这种海绵成功，并允许未来对这个问题进行假设驱动的实地研究。该博士项目将由Marcel Jaspars教授和Laurence De Clippele博士指导。Marcel Jaspars是一位海洋生物勘探专家，他已经发现了几种在动物模型（癌症、阿尔茨海默氏症、癫痫）或专利和工业许可（细菌感染）中具有活性的海洋衍生化合物。他将在项目的代谢组学、宏基因组学、化合物分离和鉴定方面提供指导。劳伦斯是冷水珊瑚礁生态学和视频分析方面的专家，在蒂斯勒礁有丰富的工作经验。她将对数据的生态解释和视频分析进行监督。本项目提供以下方面的多学科培训：海绵生态与图像分析；2.） 宏基因组学与生物信息学；3.） 代谢组学采用LC-MS/MS和统计学方法；4)。次生代谢物化学与光谱学。

Coral Reefs are important for climate regulation, food and energy supply their potential for bioprospecting and cultural services. Unlike tropical coral reefs, cold-water corals (CWC) can grow in the dark, are slow growing and rely on catching food themselves. Due to their remote and inaccessible nature, studies on the ecological interactions (competition, symbiosis) and bioprospecting of CWC reef organisms remain scarce.This interdisciplinary 4 year-long PhD project will investigate the ecological role of the sponge Mycale lingua by integrating data from (a) long term Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) video data spanning over ten years, (b) secondary metabolite profiling, (c) microbiome DNA profiling, in the search for compounds of medical and ecological relevance.The Norwegian CWC Tisler Reef has high densities present of the sponge M. lingua and it is speculated that previous trawl damage has weakened the reef and gave a competitive advantage to the sponges, now seemingly overgrowing the reef. However, there is no evidence on this and instead sponges are known to provide and recycle nutrients that benefit CWC reefs. ROV videos will be used to look at long term spatial and temporal changes in the growth pattern of the sponges. This will be integrated with data on the secondary metabolite profile (metabolome) from sponges collected as part of the ASSEMBLE Plus AmpLOPHELIA project and whether the secondary metabolites provide the sponge with a competitive advantage.The metabolome of sponges will be analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and MS-MS networking. Additional samples will be collected to show the variation of the metabolome in space and time. Unique clusters of metabolites will be identified, and the compounds isolated, and structures determined using spectroscopic methods. This will then allow the evaluation of the bioactivity of the compounds in a variety of ecologically and medically relevant biological assays and pave the way for future chemical ecology studies on M. lingua. The sponge microbiome will be analysed by isolating the metagenome of the sponge microbiome and analysing the DNA using the relevant primers followed by sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Variations in the metagenome and metabolome will enable conclusions to be drawn about the which factors have made this sponge successful and allow future hypothesis driven field research on this question.This PhD project will be supervised by Prof Marcel Jaspars and Dr Laurence De Clippele. Marcel Jaspars is an expert in marine bioprospecting and has discovered several marine derived compounds with activity in animal models (Cancer, Alzheimer's, Epilepsy) or patented and licenced to industry (bacterial infection). He will provide supervision in the metabolomics, metagenomics, compound isolation and identification aspects of the project. Laurence is an expert in cold-water coral reef ecology and video analyses and has extensive experience working at the Tisler reef. She will provide supervision on the ecological interpretation of the data and the video analyses. This project offers multidisciplinary training in: 1.) Sponge ecology and image analysis; 2.) Metagenomics and bioinformatics; 3.) Metabolomics using LC-MS/MS and statistical methods; 4.) Secondary metabolite chemistry and spectroscopy.