Collaborative Research: Building consensus around the quantification and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity

合作研究：围绕共生科多样性的量化和解释建立共识

• 批准号: 2127508
• 负责人: John Parkinson
• 金额: $ 2.82万
• 依托单位: University of South Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127508&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Building; consensus; around

Single-celled microorganisms are highly diverse and play various roles in the function of natural ecosystems, but it is challenging to recognize how genetic, morphological, and physiological diversity relate to each other in microbial groups. In an exemplary case, micro-algae in the family Symbiodiniaceae comprise many species that can only be distinguished using molecular data. Symbiodinaceae function as symbionts of various marine invertebrates, but are perhaps best known as the key to coral reef ecosystem health and persistence. The team is hosting a virtual workshop in August 2021 to identify and build further consensus among experts regarding the assessment of Symbiodiniaceae diversity. By formalizing consensus approaches and disseminating them broadly, this workshop is creating a more collaborative and welcoming research community and ensuring that all current researchers, as well as those entering the field, feel confident applying for grants, conducting research, and publishing papers that incorporate work on Symbiodiniaceae diversity. This workshop is defining additional forward-thinking research priorities that anticipate methodological advances over the next 5-10 years. Resolving the molecular diversity of microorganisms is a major technical challenge, particularly for dinoflagellates in the family Symbiodiniaceae. These micro-algal endosymbionts that associate with corals and other marine invertebrates feature massive genomes, high repeat content, and other unique aspects that have hindered their molecular characterization. As sequencing technologies have advanced, so too has our understanding of Symbiodiniaceae diversity, which has grown from the presumption of one widespread species in the 1960s to now encompass fifteen divergent genera and likely hundreds of species. This process of discovery has been fraught with controversy, as the most useful phylogenetic marker–the hyperdiverse internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region–is frustratingly difficult to interpret in a consistent manner. The ribosomal array is multicopy, it evolves at different rates in different lineages, and it is subject to concerted evolution, all of which complicate phylogenetic reconstructions. Moreover, sampled coral tissues contain populations of symbiont cells that can potentially be from multiple Symbiodiniaceae taxa, complicating efforts to characterize partner specificity. Early debates focused on the extent to which unique ITS2 sequences indicated the presence of multiple symbiont species or simply multiple intraspecific variants. This central conflict has led to different schools of thought about how flexible coral-algal associations can be, and how they might respond to ongoing climate change. Next-generation sequencing has provided more data, but the same foundational interpretive issues remain. This team is gathering pioneering Symbiodiniaceae experts from around the world (ranging from seasoned veterans to newly-minted PhDs) who all collectively agree that a consensus interpretive framework can and must be identified and advanced in order to move the field forward. The participants are generating a ‘consensus road map’ leading to two workshop products: 1. an NSF white paper; and 2. an open-access, peer-reviewed manuscript. Through pre-workshop surveys, four workshop sessions, post-workshop collaboration, and publication, the team is summarizing current practices and recommending key methods for identifying and analyzing Symbiodiniaceae genetic diversity across three ‘umbrellas’: 1. communities, 2. populations, and 3. strains. The written products from this workshop are being distributed to the wider reef and conservation community by leveraging a separate mini-workshop previously developed for the 2022 International Coral Reef Symposium. Workshop participants are also highlighting new technologies and research priorities for the next decade that should help fill some of the remaining knowledge gaps.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.

单细胞微生物高度多样，在自然生态系统的功能中起着各种作用，但是要认识到遗传，形态和身体多样性如何在微生物群中相互关系是挑战。在示例性的情况下，家族共生科中的微藻类完成了许多只能使用分子数据来区分的物种。共生菌科充当各种海洋无脊椎动物的象征，但最可能是珊瑚礁生态系统健康和持久性的关键。该团队将于2021年8月举办一个虚拟研讨会，以确定并建立有关Symbiodiniaceae多样性评估的专家之间的进一步共识。通过格式化共识方法并广泛地传播它们，该研讨会正在创建一个更加协作和热情的研究社区，并确保所有现有研究人员以及进入该领域的所有研究人员都充满信心地申请赠款，进行研究和发表论文，这些论文在Symbiodiniaceae多样性上累积了工作。该研讨会定义了预计未来5 - 10年的方法论进步的其他前瞻性研究优先级。解决微生物的分子多样性是一个主要的技术挑战，特别是对于家族共生科中的鞭毛鞭毛。这些与珊瑚和其他海洋无脊椎动物相关的微α内共生体具有巨大的基因组，高重复含量以及其他妨碍其分子表征的独特方面。随着测序技术的发展，我们对共生性多样性的理解也是如此，这已经从1960年代的一个宽度物种推定到现在涵盖了15个发散的属以及可能数百种。这一发现的过程充满了争议，是最有用的系统发育标记，即Hyperde的内部转录间隔2（ITS2）区域 - 令人沮丧地以一致的方式解释。核糖体阵列是多拷贝，它在不同的谱系中以不同的速率演变，并且会受到一致的进化，所有这些都使系统发育重建复杂化。此外，采样的珊瑚组织含有符号细胞的种群，这些细胞可能来自多个共生科分类群，这使表征伴侣特异性的努力变得复杂。早期辩论的重点是独特的IT2序列在多大程度上表明存在多个符号或仅仅是多个种内变体。这场中心冲突导致了关于灵活的珊瑚 - 阿尔加尔联想的不同思考，以及他们如何应对持续的气候变化。下一代测序提供了更多数据，但仍然存在相同的基础解释问题。该团队正在收集来自世界各地的先驱Symbiodiniaceae专家（从经验丰富的退伍军人到新磨练的博士学位），他们都共同同意可以并且必须确定并必须确定并提高共识的解释框架，以推动该领域的前进。参与者正在生成“共识路线图”，导致两种研讨会产品：1。NSF白皮书；和2。开放式，同行评审的手稿。通过工作室前调查，四次研讨会，工作室合作和出版物，该团队正在总结当前的实践，并推荐了识别和分析三个“雨伞”的Symbiodiniaceae遗传多样性的关键方法：1。社区，2。种群和3。林分。该研讨会的书面产品通过利用以前为2022年国际珊瑚礁研讨会开发的单独的迷你工作室来分发给更广泛的礁石和保护界。研讨会的参与者还强调了未来十年的新技术和研究优先事项，这将有助于填补其余的知识差距。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来审查标准，被视为通过评估来获得支持。

项目成果

Building consensus around the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202206.0284.v1
• 发表时间: 2022-01-01
• 期刊: MDPI AG
• 作者: Davies, S;Gamache, MH;Banaszak, AT
• 通讯作者: Banaszak, AT