Elucidating the nature of the symbiosis between reef-building corals and common Endozoicomonas bacteria

珊瑚礁是重要的经济生态系统，为全球10多亿人提供就业机会和海岸保护服务。珊瑚在世界范围内正受到人为干扰和气候变化的威胁，保护和恢复解决方案需要加强对其生物学和健康的了解。该项目将对常见的珊瑚与细菌的关系进行研究，总的目标是了解这种共生的性质，并确定细菌是否为珊瑚提供生长或弹性益处。加强珊瑚-细菌共生知识将有助于更明智地作出关于基于微生物的珊瑚健康干预措施的决定，包括益生菌和疾病治疗。该项目将产生新的数据，这将促进对珊瑚-细菌关系和相互作用的了解。研究人员将重点研究位于美国领土维尔京群岛内重要经济珊瑚礁上的珊瑚。通过以适当的形式吸引不同的受众，包括通过设在维尔京群岛大学的新兴加勒比科学家项目，包括研究生教育和本科生培训，获得的知识将被广泛分享，维尔京群岛大学是一所为少数族裔服务的历史上的黑人大学。将与为少数族裔服务的美属维尔京岛夏令营合作，向初中生和高中生提供服务。以共生为基础的课程也将提供给学前班和小学观众，并为所有年龄段的科学咖啡馆风格的活动。项目成果将通过开放获取的手稿、可访问的新闻稿和社交媒体帖子公开分享。属于伽马蛋白细菌属内生单胞菌的细菌与世界各地不同种类的珊瑚有着丰富的联系，这些珊瑚构成了支持生物多样性和重要经济价值的珊瑚礁生态系统的框架。目前尚不清楚这些神秘的共生体，通常在珊瑚组织中形成聚集体，对珊瑚是有利还是不利。这个项目试图了解内生单胞菌和珊瑚全息生物之间的关系。利用自然出现在有和没有显著内生单胞菌的珊瑚礁上的加勒比珊瑚Porites astreoids，调查人员将进行一系列野外和水族箱实验，并采用各种测序、稳定同位素、可视化和基于质谱学的方法来研究内生单胞菌对珊瑚全叶的生长、免疫防御和营养方面的影响。具体地说，这项提案将审查以下目标：1)珊瑚生长--确定内生单胞菌的存在是否对珊瑚的生长有利，2)免疫防御--了解内生单胞菌的存在是否影响珊瑚的发病或抵抗力，以及3)营养--检查内生单胞菌是否显示出与珊瑚全叶的营养和代谢相互作用的证据。了解珊瑚-内生单胞菌的相互作用将填补珊瑚系统生物学中的一个关键知识空白，这可能直接有助于设计珊瑚干预策略。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。

Coral reefs are economically important ecosystems that provide jobs and coastal protection services to over a billion people worldwide. Corals are under threat worldwide from anthropogenic disturbances and climate change, and enhanced knowledge of their biology and health is needed for conservation and restoration solutions. This project will pursue research on a common coral-bacterial relationship with the overall goal of understanding the nature of this symbiosis and to determine if the bacteria provide growth or resilience benefits to the coral. Enhancing coral-bacterial symbiosis knowledge will facilitate more informed decisions about microbial-based interventions in coral health, including probiotics and disease treatments. This project will produce novel data which will advance understanding of coral-bacterial relationships and interactions. The researchers will focus work on corals located on economically important reefs located within the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands. The knowledge gained will be broadly shared by engaging diverse audiences in appropriate formats, including graduate student education and training of undergraduate students through the Emerging Caribbean Scientists program based at the University of Virgin Islands, a minority-serving, historically black university. Outreach to middle and high school students will occur in collaboration with a minority serving, U.S. Virgin Island summer camp. Symbiosis-based lessons will also be presented to to pre-K and elementary school audiences, and a science café style event for all ages. Project findings will be shared through publicly through open access manuscripts and accessible press releases and social media posts.Bacteria belonging to the gammaproteobacterial genus Endozoicomonas are abundantly associated with diverse species of worldwide corals which form the framework supporting biodiverse and economically important reef ecosystems. It is unknown whether these enigmatic symbionts, which often form aggregates within coral tissues, provide benefits or detriments to corals. This project seeks to to understand the relationship between Endozoicomonas and the coral holobiont. Leveraging the Caribbean coral Porites astreoides which naturally occurs on reefs with and without prominent Endozoicomonas symbionts, the investigators will perform a series of field and aquaria experiments and employ a variety of sequencing, stable isotope, visualization and mass spectrometry-based methodologies to examine growth, immune defense and nutrition-based impacts of Endozoicomonas on the coral holobiont. Specifically, this proposal will examine the following aims: 1) Coral Growth - determine if the presence of Endozoicomonas symbionts infers growth benefits to the coral, 2) Immune Defenses - understand if the presence of Endozoicomonas symbionts influences disease onset or resistance in corals and 3) Nutrition - examine if Endozoicomonas symbionts show evidence of nutritional and metabolic interactions with the coral holobiont. Understanding coral-Endozoicomonas interactions will fill a key knowledge gap in the systems biology of corals that may be directly useful for designing coral intervention strategies.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.