RAPID: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Interaction between genotype and acquired environmental modifications during coral responses to extreme climatic events Irma and Maria

在不到一个月的时间里，连续两次5级飓风的影响使波多黎各成为世界上最好的自然实验室，可以研究极端天气事件对珊瑚礁的影响，以及珊瑚对全球变化的适应反应机制。该项目利用这一机会，以及研究小组之前在该领域的工作，了解珊瑚在对极端气候事件的代际和跨代反应中，现有的遗传变异如何与获得的环境改变（即微生物组和表观基因组）相互作用。为此，我们将直接研究珊瑚和共生菌的基因型、细菌多样性和表观基因组修饰，探索它们在珊瑚人口统计学和生理恢复中的作用，以及与胁迫适应相关的表观基因组特征的遗传。这项工作将由一个多机构团队完成，为基础物种适应快速变化的环境条件的机制提供急需的答案。通过更好地了解压力反应的机制，研究人员希望了解无根生物能够适应或适应极端事件的时间。佛罗里达国际大学（Florida International University）、波多黎各大学（University of Puerto Rico）和宾夕法尼亚州立大学（Pennsylvania State University）的现有资源将用于招募和吸引来自科学领域代表性不足群体的研究生和本科生参与这项研究。研究小组将与波多黎各各机构和当地资源管理人员密切合作，交流研究的管理和保护应用。在今后几十年里，改变的风暴制度的频率和强度的增加将大大减少珊瑚种群的规模。虽然已知环境获得性修饰可以影响珊瑚的健康和生理，但它们与珊瑚现有遗传变异促进表型可塑性的确切作用和相互作用仍然是我们对后生动物生态学和进化的理解中的中心空白之一。该项目将首次调查珊瑚遗传变异与两种不同类型的环境获得性修饰（表观基因组和微生物组）在对高能风暴的代际和跨代反应中的相互作用。拟议的研究将确定a)表观遗传特征和细菌多样性的修饰是否依赖于珊瑚宿主和共生菌基因型之间的特定关联，b)这些修饰是否在飓风后恢复期间促进了不同的生理和人口统计学表现，以及c)祖先获得的表观基因组修饰是否传递给它们的后代。2名研究生和2名REU本科生将参与本研究。研究小组将与波多黎各各机构密切合作，每月召开电话会议，并定期向当地资源管理人员提供有关这项工作的最新情况。一份正式的评估方案将用于评估拟议的教育和科学活动的实施和进展（遵循美国国家科学基金会项目评估用户友好手册）。结果和元数据将通过同行评议的出版物、科学会议、报告和使用在线存储库传播。原始数据将应要求提供。

After the impact of two consecutive category 5 hurricanes in less than a month, Puerto Rico is (for a narrow window of time) the world's best natural laboratory to study the effects of extreme weather episodes on coral reefs and the mechanisms underlying coral acclimatory responses to global change. This project leverages this opportunity, and the research team's previous work in the area, to understand how coral existing genetic variation interacts with acquired environmental modifications (i.e., microbiome and epigenome) during intra- and trans-generational responses to extreme climatic events. For this purpose, coral and Symbiodinium genotypes, bacterial diversity and epigenomic modifications will be directly examined, exploring their role in coral demographic and physiological recovery and the inheritance of epigenomic signatures linked to stress acclimatization. This work will be accomplished by a multi-institutional team, providing much needed answers to questions concerning the mechanisms by which foundational species acclimatize to rapidly changing environmental conditions. By better understanding the mechanisms contributing to stress responses, the researchers hope to learn how long lived sessile organisms may adapt or acclimatize to a extreme events. Established resources at Florida International University, the University of Puerto Rico, and Pennsylvania State University will be used to recruit and engage graduate and undergraduate students from under-represented groups in science in the research. The research team will work closely with Puerto Rican agencies and local resource managers to communicate management and conservation applications from the research. The increasing frequency and intensity of altered storm regimes will contribute to significantly reducing coral population sizes in the next few decades. While it is known that environmentally acquired modifications can influence coral health and physiology, their precise role and interaction with coral existing genetic variation to promote phenotypic plasticity remain one of the central gaps in our understanding of metazoan ecology and evolution. This project will be the first investigation into the interaction between coral genetic variation and two different types of environmentally acquired modifications (epigenome and microbiome) during intra- and trans-generational responses to high-energy storms. The proposed research will determine a) if modifications in epigenetic signatures and bacterial diversity are dependent on specific associations between coral host and Symbiodinium genotypes, b) if those modifications promote differential physiological and demographic performance during post-hurricane recovery, and c) if epigenomic modifications acquired by progenitors are transmitted to their offspring. Two graduate students and 2 REU undergraduates will be engaged in this research. The research team will work closely with Puerto Rico agencies, convene monthly conference calls, and provide regular updates about this work to local resource managers. A formal evaluation protocol will be used to assess implementation and progress of the proposed educational and scientific activities (following NSF user-friendly handbook for project evaluation). Results and metadata will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, scientific meetings, reports and using online repositories. Raw data will be provided upon request.