Effects of Viruses on Coral Fitness

病毒对珊瑚健康的影响

• 批准号: 1242064
• 负责人: Rebecca Vega
• 金额: $ 29.87万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-11-01 至 2014-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1242064&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Effects; Viruses; Coral; Fitness

Corals are important ecosystem engineers, providing habitat and nutrient recycling to tropical reefs. However, coral species richness and abundance are in decline world-wide, due in large part to anthropogenic impacts stemming from global industrialization and human population growth. Over the past several decades, global coral cover is estimated to have declined between ~20 to 60%, and approximately one-third of all known reef-building corals currently face an elevated risk of extinction. Coral disease is a major contributor to this decline of tropical reefs, and therefore, investigations into the causes of and remedies to these diseases are of critical importance. Currently little is known about viruses that infect corals. This project will address this issue.Herpes-like viruses have been shown to be produced in coral tissues after acute episodes of stress.Viral diversity characterization, however, does not inform scientists about the effects of viral infection on coral hosts. This project will investigate whether viral infection in corals leads to disease and/or reductions in coral reproductive fitness. Specifically, this project aims to compare and contrast the relative abundance and diversity of viruses present in coral tissues during episodes of diseases, particularly, growth anomalies in Porites species and white plague disease in Montastraea species. Pyrosequencing of viral DNA will be conducted on healthy and diseased corals to: i) characterize new viral types, ii) determine whether viral types are associated with particular diseases, and iii) address the central hypothesis that viruses contribute to reduced coral fitness. Sequence analysis and functional annotation of coral viromes will determine the phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships of these viruses and identify viral mechanisms of host infection and disease. The role of viruses in host fitness will be further explored using coral fecundity and larval survivorship and settlement experiments on the model coral, Acropora millepora. Viruses will be isolated from adults, egg bundles, and larvae, in order to determine the transmission mode and ontogenic fitness effects of viral infection.This proposal will expand the coral taxa, diseases, developmental stages, and geographic regions from which viruses have been characterized, broadening our general knowledge about the diversity of these coral parasites. The examination of viral consortia in healthy and diseased corals combined with viral inoculation experiments will then take the next step and provide scientists clues about the ecological roles that viruses play in coral reef ecosystems. This combination of high-throughput sequencing and microscopy-based methods will lead to a more comprehensive picture of the diversity and role(s) of coral viruses in holobiont fitness and disease. Lastly, insight into how viruses are transmitted will give policymakers better information about how to control viral outbreaks, including limiting the spread of infection and disease.Recent metagenomics work has begun to uncover unique viral assemblages associated with a variety of ecosystems. To a large extent, this work has focused on phages from the open ocean and temperate coasts. This project will use similar methods to investigate viruses in tropical stony corals, a group of highly threatened organisms which provide a multitude of ecosystem services to marine organisms and local communities. The characterization of viral consortia in healthy, diseased, and different life stages of corals will provide scientists clues about the roles that viruses play in the establishment, health, and resilience of these critical ecosystem engineers.Florida International University (FIU) is one of the largest minority and urban-serving institutions in the country. During the course of this project, mentorship will be provided to undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral researchers. This project will provide funds to begin the hands-on training of two female graduate students, a postdoctoral researcher, and two undergraduates in marine science, molecular biology, developmental biology, coral reef ecology, and bioinformatics. Such interdisciplinary training will help these young scientists develop a broad and technologically savvy academic career in the marine sciences. Lastly, this project will provide a solid foundation for the scientific career of a young female minority investigator.

珊瑚是重要的生态系统工程师，为热带礁石提供栖息地和营养回收利用。然而，珊瑚物种的丰富度和丰度在全球范围内下降，这在很大程度上是由于全球工业化和人口增长所产生的人为影响。在过去的几十年中，据估计，全球珊瑚覆盖量在约20％至60％之间，目前所有已知的礁石建造珊瑚中约有三分之一面临灭绝风险的升高。珊瑚病是热带礁石下降的主要因素，因此，对这些疾病的原因和补救措施的调查至关重要。目前，关于感染珊瑚的病毒知之甚少。该项目将解决这个问题。类似疱疹的病毒已被证明是在急性应激发作后在珊瑚组织中产生的。但是，病毒多样性表征并未告知科学家病毒感染对珊瑚宿主的影响。该项目将研究珊瑚中的病毒感染是否导致疾病和/或珊瑚生殖适应性的降低。具体而言，该项目旨在比较和对比疾病发作期间珊瑚组织中存在的病毒的相对丰度和多样性，尤其是porites物种中的生长异常和蒙塔斯特氏菌中的白瘟疫疾病。病毒DNA的焦磷酸测序将以健康和患病的珊瑚进行：i）特征新病毒类型，ii）确定病毒类型是否与特定疾病有关，iii）解决了病毒有助于降低珊瑚适应性的中心假设。珊瑚病毒组的序列分析和功能注释将确定这些病毒的系统发育和进化关系，并确定宿主感染和疾病的病毒机制。使用珊瑚繁殖力和幼虫生存和沉降实验，将进一步探索病毒在宿主健身中的作用。病毒将从成年人，卵束和幼虫中分离出来，以确定病毒感染的传播模式和个体的适应性影响。该提案将扩大珊瑚分类单元，疾病，发育阶段以及病毒的地理区域，从中已经表征了这些珊瑚Parasites的多样性。随后，对健康和患病的珊瑚进行病毒财团的检查将采取下一步，并为科学家提供有关病毒在珊瑚礁生态系统中发挥的生态作用的线索。高通量测序和基于显微镜的方法的这种结合将导致更全面地了解Holobiont适应性和疾病中珊瑚病毒的多样性和作用。最后，对病毒的传播方式的洞察力将为政策制定者提供有关如何控制病毒爆发的更好信息，包括限制感染和疾病的传播。当时的元基因组学工作已经开始发现与各种生态系统相关的独特病毒组合。在很大程度上，这项工作集中在开阔海洋和温带海岸的噬菌体上。该项目将使用类似的方法研究热带石质珊瑚的病毒，这是一群受威胁性的生物体，为海洋生物和当地社区提供了多种生态系统服务。在珊瑚的健康，患病和不同的生活阶段中，病毒财团的表征将为科学家提供有关病毒在这些关键生态系统工程师的建立，健康和弹性中所扮演的角色的线索。FloridaInternational University（FIU）是该国最大的少数民族和城市服务机构之一。在该项目的过程中，将向大学生，毕业生和博士后研究人员提供指导。该项目将提供资金，以开始对两名女研究生，一名博士后研究人员以及海洋科学，分子生物学，发育生物学，珊瑚礁生态学和生物信息学的两名本科生的动手培训。这种跨学科的培训将有助于这些年轻的科学家在海洋科学领域发展广泛且技术精明的学术生涯。最后，该项目将为年轻女性少数群体调查员的科学生涯奠定坚实的基础。