BRC-BIO: Defining metabolic complementation within the sea anemone microbiome

大多数动物体内都有一种复杂的微生物物种，统称为微生物群。然而，目前尚不清楚这些微生物如何合作来提高真核宿主的适应性、健康和存活率。本提案旨在促进对海葵微生物组内代谢合作的理解。Aiptasia是研究刺胞-藻类共生的重要模型系统，通常用于更好地了解珊瑚礁的白化现象。这项研究的一个预期结果是对微生物组在刺胞菌共生中的作用有一个综合的理解。考虑到珊瑚礁的迅速减少和对工程微生物组的日益关注，以更好地保护和提高这些标志性生态系统的生存，所提出的工作将有助于指导目前在珊瑚礁恢复工作中实施的益生菌解决方案。该项目还将为不同职业阶段的年轻研究人员提供短期和长期培训。学生研究人员将从加州大学默塞德分校的学生群体中招募，这是一所西班牙裔服务机构。作为拟议工作的核心，研究活动将直接整合到本科研究经验课程（CURE）中，该课程将为大约40名本科生提供微生物生态学研究方面的培训。为3名本科生和1名研究生提供长期资助。最后，该项目将通过创建必要的基础设施来支持可持续的研究项目，为一名初级教员提供支持。微生物群是一种哨兵，微观物种的集合，它们彼此相互作用，并与宿主相互作用，有效地形成了一个元生物体。微生物组内微生物相互作用的基础是一个由小分子交换介导的复杂代谢途径网络。在了解微生物组如何对元生物体的整体健康和福祉起作用方面，一个空白是确定细胞生物体之间的代谢交换或共生性。该项目的总体目标是确定哪些微生物物种组合对维持海葵（Exaiptasia diaphana）的健康和生存至关重要。具体而言，该研究将(1)通过产生非生物海葵来量化微生物组对宿主健康的影响，(2)将不同组合的微生物分离物重新引入宿主，以确定哪些伙伴需要拯救和维持宿主健康，(3)使用组学技术比较重新引入特定微生物物种组合前后元生物代谢的变化。由此产生的元组学和生理学数据将使用系统生物学方法进行整合，以更好地探索真核宿主与其微生物组之间的代谢相互作用。这项研究将通过细胞代谢的整合来揭示机制，从而推动微生物生态学理论的发展，使复杂的微生物群能够促进元生物的健康。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Most animals house a complex assortment of microbial species, collectively known as a microbiome. Yet, it is unclear how these microorganisms cooperate to elevate the fitness, health, and survival of eukaryotic hosts. This proposal seeks to advance the understanding of metabolic cooperation within the microbiome of the sea anemone, aiptasia. Aiptasia is an important models system for studying cnidarian-algal symbioses and is commonly used to better understand bleaching phenomena on coral reefs. One expected outcome of this research is to develop an integrative understanding of the role of the microbiome in cnidarian symbiosis. Considering the rapid decline of coral reefs and the increasing attention towards engineering the microbiome to better protect and enhance the survival of these iconic ecosystems, the proposed work will help to guide probiotic solutions that are currently being implemented in reef restoration efforts. This project will also provide both short and long term training for young researchers across career stages. Student researchers will be recruited from the student population at the University of California, Merced which is a Hispanic Serving Institution. As a centerpiece to the proposed work, the research activities will be directly integrated into a course undergraduate research experience (CURE) that will provide training to approximately 40 undergraduates in microbial ecology research. Long term support is provided to three undergraduates and one graduate student. Finally, the project will support one beginning faculty member by creating the needed infrastructure to support a sustainable research program. The microbiome is a collection of sentinel, microscopic species that interact with one another and their hosts, effectively forming a metaorganism. At the basis of microbial interactions within a microbiome, lies an complex web of metabolic pathways mediated by the exchange of small molecules. One gap in the understanding of how microbiomes work to benefit the overall health and wellbeing of a metaorganism is identifying the metabolic exchanges, or syntropies, between cellular organisms. The overall goal of this project is to identify which combinations of microbial species are essential towards maintaining the health and survival of the sea anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana. Specifically, the proposed research will (1) quantify the impact of the microbiome on host fitness by generating gnotobiotic sea anemones, (2) reintroduce varying combinations of microbial isolates back to the host to determine which partners are required to rescue and maintain host fitness and (3) compare shifts in metaorganism metabolism using ‘omics techniques before and after the re-introduction of select combinations of microbial species. Resulting meta’omic and physiological data will be integrated using a systems biology approach to better explore metabolic interactions between eukaryotic hosts and their microbiomes. This research will advance microbial ecology theory by undercovering mechanisms, via the integration of cellular metabolisms, that enable complex microbiomes to contribute to the health of the metaorganism.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.