Signature exometabolomes of Caribbean corals and influences on reef picoplankton

珊瑚礁是海洋中最具多样性和生产力的生态系统之一。在全球范围内，由于环境变化，珊瑚礁的石珊瑚（造礁）数量减少，在加勒比，石珊瑚数量减少的同时，软珊瑚（软珊瑚）数量增加。加勒比海珊瑚礁上发生的这种相位变化可能会影响海底和水柱之间的相互作用，特别是珊瑚和微型浮游生物之间的相互作用。微型浮游生物是水体中的微生物，利用珊瑚释放的有机物质来支持其生长。这些珊瑚-微型浮游生物的相互作用相对而言尚未得到研究，但可能对珊瑚礁生态和珊瑚健康产生重大影响。该项目将在美属维尔京群岛（美属维尔京群岛）进行，并将首次详细了解不同石珊瑚和珊瑚物种释放的有机物质的化学多样性和组成。这个项目将通过让我们了解不同的珊瑚代谢物如何随着时间的推移影响微型浮游生物的生长和动态来促进我们对珊瑚礁微生物生态学的理解。该项目的成果将在一本免费的在线杂志上公布，美属维尔京群岛少数民族中学生将通过既定的夏令营学习珊瑚礁的化学-生物相互作用。该项目还将有助于培训美属维尔京群岛少数民族本科生和一名研究生。珊瑚外代谢体是珊瑚及其微生物组的代谢产物的总和，被认为以物种特异性方式构建微型浮游生物群落。然而，珊瑚exometabolomes的详细了解，其对珊瑚礁picoplancomatic的影响，尚未获得。该项目将利用对石珊瑚和珊瑚虫（加勒比珊瑚礁生态系统的基本物种）进行的受控水族箱实验，研究不同珊瑚物种的外代谢物如何对珊瑚礁微型浮游生物群落产生不同的影响。具体而言，该项目将利用基于质谱的代谢组学的最新发展来定义具有生态重要性和多样性的石珊瑚和珊瑚虫的特征外代谢组。其次，该项目将确定这些珊瑚的外代谢物如何与珊瑚分类学以及珊瑚相关微生物组（共生藻，细菌和古菌）相关的因素发生变化。有了对珊瑚外泌代谢组的新认识，该项目将对珊瑚外泌代谢组应用稳定同位素探针标记方法，并将研究海水微型浮游生物群落是否以及如何（通过生长和活动的变化）随着时间的推移将不同珊瑚物种的珊瑚外泌代谢组结合起来。该项目将提高我们的能力，以评估珊瑚外泌代谢体在促进加勒比海珊瑚礁变化中的底栖生物-微型浮游生物相互作用方面发挥的作用。

Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the ocean. Globally, reefs have declined in stony (reef-building) coral abundance due to environmental variations, and in the Caribbean this decline has coincided with an increase in octocoral (soft coral) abundance. This phase shift occurring on Caribbean reefs may be impacting the interactions between the sea floor and water column and particularly between corals and picoplankton. Picoplankton are the microorganisms in the water column that utilize organic matter released from corals to support their growth. These coral-picoplankton interactions are relatively unstudied, but could have major implications for reef ecology and coral health. This project will take place in the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands (USVI) and will produce the first detailed knowledge about the chemical diversity and composition of organic matter released from diverse stony coral and octocoral species. This project will advance our understanding of coral reef microbial ecology by allowing us to understand how different coral metabolites impact picoplankton growth and dynamics over time. The results from this project will be made publically accessible in a freely available online magazine, and USVI minority middle and high school students will be exposed to a lesson about chemical-biological interactions on coral reefs through established summer camps. This project will also contribute to the training of USVI minority undergraduates as well as a graduate student. Coral exometabolomes, which are the sum of metabolic products of the coral together with its microbiome, are thought to structure picoplankton communities in a species-specific manner. However, a detailed understanding of coral exometabolomes, and their influences on reef picoplankton, has not yet been obtained. This project will utilize controlled aquaria-based experiments with stony corals and octocorals, foundational species of Caribbean reef ecosystems, to examine how the exometabolomes of diverse coral species differentially influence the reef picoplankton community. Specifically, this project will capitalize on recent developments in mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to define the signature exometabolomes of ecologically important and diverse stony corals and octocorals. Secondly, this project will determine how the exometabolomes of these corals vary with factors linked to coral taxonomy as well as the coral-associated microbiome (Symbiodinium algae, bacteria and archaea. With this new understanding of coral exometabolomes, the project will then apply a stable isotope probe labeling approach to the coral exometabolome and will examine if and how (through changes in growth and activity) the seawater picoplankton community incorporates coral exometabolomes from different coral species over time. This project will advance our ability to evaluate the role that coral exometabolomes play in contributing to benthic-picoplankton interactions on changing Caribbean reefs.