The role of the microbiome in coral bleaching - Friends or Foes?

全球浅水珊瑚礁生态系统正在衰退，热应激和水质恶化被认为是珊瑚白化和随后大量死亡的主要原因（1,2）。主要的栖息地建立物种，硬核珊瑚，被描述为由珊瑚宿主动物，其内共生的鞭毛藻和“珊瑚微生物群”组成的整体生物-由生活在珊瑚上和珊瑚内的高度多样化和丰富的微生物群落组成。虽然大量的研究工作集中在动物宿主和鞭毛藻共生体如何应对环境压力上，但最近的证据表明，珊瑚微生物组沿着环境梯度变化，这一过程可能影响珊瑚对压力的恢复能力(3)。虽然海洋微生物被认为是全球生物地球化学循环的关键驱动力；它们在珊瑚群落中的确切功能仍不清楚。目前尚不清楚具体的环境参数如何塑造珊瑚微生物群的结构，以及哪些特定的机制和微生物驱动了全息生物的健康功能。本项目旨在研究环境多重胁迫因素，特别是热量和营养胁迫，如何影响不同珊瑚物种中微生物群的组成及其与宿主的相互作用；从而影响了珊瑚的恢复能力和从白化事件中恢复的能力。

Shallow-water coral reef ecosystems are on decline globally, with heat stress anddeteriorating water quality identified as major causes of coral bleaching and subsequentmass mortality (1,2). The main habitat-founding species, scleractinian corals, are describedas a holobiont formed by the coral host animal, its endosymbiotic dinoflagellates and the'coral microbiome' - constituted by highly diverse and abundant communities of microbesliving on and within the coral. While intense research efforts have focused on how the animalhosts and dinoflagellate symbionts respond to environmental stress, recent evidencesuggests that the coral microbiome changes along environmental gradients and that thisprocess may influence coral resilience to stress (3). Although marine microbes are knownto be key drivers of global biogeochemical cycles; their exact functional roles in the coralholobiont remain unknown. It is unclear how specific environmental parameters shape thestructure of coral microbiome, and which specific mechanisms and microbes drive thehealthy functioning of the holobiont. This project aims to study how environmental multistressors,especially heat and nutrient stress, influence the composition of the microbiomeand their interactions with their hosts in different coral species; thus affecting the resilienceof corals and their capacity to recover from bleaching events.