Tracing the origins of stress in the symbionts of reef-building corals.

珊瑚的共生腰鞭毛虫对世界上主要的热带珊瑚礁生态系统至关重要。最近在我们的实验室和其他人的工作表明，这些藻类是敏感的一系列广泛的压力（包括气候变化），因此可能是？致命弱点？of reef珊瑚礁ecosystems生态系统. 本项目将利用表达序列标签和微阵列技术鉴定这些藻类中的关键基因和过程。在此基础上，将研究这些应激反应的潜在分子机制及其遗传多样性，以便更好地了解造礁珊瑚对漂白的不同敏感性。

Symbiotic dinoflagellates of corals are critical to the world's major tropical reef ecosystems. Recent work in our laboratories and others has revealed that these algae are sensitive to a wide array of stresses (including climate change) and hence may be the ?Achilles Heel? of reef ecosystems. This project will identify the key genes and processes in these algae using expressed sequence tags and microarray technology. On this basis, the underlying molecular mechanisms of these stress responses and their genetic diversity will be studied in order to better understand the differential susceptibility of reef-building corals to bleaching.