URoL: MTM 1: Chemistry of cnidarian symbiosis: microbiomes role in association, morphogenesis, and protection

许多蛇形动物，包括珊瑚、海葵和水母，都含有光合作用的藻类，为它们提供关键的营养。与人类活动相关的栖息地变化可能会破坏这种共生关系的稳定，导致最近珊瑚白化事件的迅速增加。这些漂白事件往往对珊瑚礁生态系统造成毁灭性的影响，珊瑚礁生态系统是地球上生物多样性的群落之一。虽然越来越多的证据表明细菌和真菌微生物群在健康动物的生理中起着重要的作用，但对线虫的微生物群及其在调节线虫-藻类共生中的作用却知之甚少。这项研究项目将系统地研究与蛇类动物相关的微生物，这些微生物产生的化合物，以及这些化合物对蛇类动物生理和共生的影响。这些实验的结果将提供对北极熊生物学的关键见解，这是设计和实施全球保护努力所迫切需要的。此外，这项研究可能会对动物-微生物关系产生一般性的见解，因为线虫是最古老的动物谱系之一，并提供了重要的进化观点，线虫的多样性允许比较方法，这一系统中的强烈相互作用将揭示一般原理。此外，该项目有强大的教育和公共宣传部分，包括一个教师讲习班，将新的以实验室为基础的课程带到当地的公立学区。刺齿动物与光养甲藻(共生科)之间的共生关系在刺齿动物的生理中起着至关重要的作用。最近的发现表明，寄主和共生的甲藻都与复杂的细菌和真菌微生物群有关。然而，关于这些群落的多样性、它们的次生代谢体，或者它们如何影响蛇类的生理和蛇-甲藻的共生，人们知之甚少。拟议的研究将通过使用元基因组学来描述与线虫相关的微生物群落，通过比较代谢组学分析来确定宿主动物和微生物产生的化合物，以及通过体内试验来确定微生物和代谢物对线虫生理的影响，来解决这一知识鸿沟。该项目的第一个目标是利用海葵Exaiptasia确定微生物群对珊瑚-藻类共生的影响。这项研究将描述宿主中细菌和真菌的多样性，微生物组操作对珊瑚漂白的影响，共生和非共生宿主的代谢组，以及培养微生物的代谢产物的影响。该项目的第二个目标将确定微生物群对珊瑚发育和利用倒置的仙后座水母共生的影响。这种水母的生命周期转变依赖于共生甲藻的存在，这个项目将确定仙后座中的细菌和真菌群落，不同生命周期的代谢组，以及微生物组对动物发育的影响。该项目由NSF了解生命规则(UROL)大创意倡议和NSF化学部生命过程化学(CLP)计划联合支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many cnidarians, including corals, anemones, and jellyfish, contain photosynthetic algae that supply them with critical nutrients. Habitat changes associated with human activity can destabilize this symbiotic relationship, leading to a rapid rise in recent coral bleaching events. These bleaching events often have devastating effects on reef ecosystems, which are amongst the biodiverse communities on the planet. Although there is increasing evidence that the bacterial and fungal microbiome has an important role in the physiology of healthy animals, relatively little is known about the microbiome of cnidarians or the role of their microbiome in mediating cnidarian-algae symbiosis. This research project will systematically examine the microorganisms associated with cnidarians, the compounds these microbes produce, and the effects these compounds have on cnidarian physiology and symbiosis. The results from these experiments will provide key insights into cnidarian biology, which is urgently needed for the design and implementation of global preservation efforts. Furthermore, this research is likely to yield general insights into animal-microorganism relationships, since cnidarians are one of the oldest animal lineages and provide an important evolutionary perspective, the diversity of cnidarians allows comparative approaches, and the strong interactions in this system will expose general principles. In addition, this project has a strong education and public outreach component, including a teacher’s workshop to bring new lab-based curriculum to local public-school districts. The symbiotic relationship between cnidarians and phototrophic dinoflagellates (family Symbiodiniaceae) has a critical role in cnidarian physiology. Recent findings suggest that both the cnidarian host and the symbiotic dinoflagellates are associated with complex bacterial and fungal microbiomes. However, little is known about the diversity of these communities, their secondary metabolome, or how they affect cnidarian physiology and cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis. The proposed research will address this knowledge gap by using metagenomics to describe the cnidarian-associated microbial communities, comparative metabolomics analysis to identify compounds produced by both the host animal and microbes, and in vivo assays to determine the effects of microbes and metabolites on cnidarian physiology. The first aim of this project will identify the effects of the microbiome on coral-algae symbiosis using the anemone Exaiptasia. This research will describe the bacterial and fungal diversity in the host, the effects of microbiome manipulation on coral bleaching, the metabolome of symbiotic and aposymbiotic hosts, and the effects of metabolites from cultured microbes. The second aim of this project will determine the effects of the microbiome on coral development and symbiosis using the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea. Life cycle transitions in this jellyfish are dependent on the presence of symbiotic dinoflagellates, and this project will identify the bacterial and fungal community in Cassiopea, the metabolome of different life cycles, and the effects of the microbiome on animal development.This project is jointly supported by the NSF Understanding the Rules of Life (URoL) Big Idea initiative and the Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP) Program in the Division of Chemistry at NSF.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.