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: 2127514
• 负责人: Adrienne Simoes Correa
• 金额: $ 3.54万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 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=2127514&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化，在自然生态系统的功能中发挥着不同的作用，但认识微生物群体中遗传、形态和生理多样性如何相互关联是一项挑战，以微藻为例。共生科包含许多物种，这些物种只能通过分子数据来区分，它们是各种海洋无脊椎动物的共生体，但最出名的可能是珊瑚礁生态系统健康和持久性的关键。团队将于 2​​021 年 8 月举办一次虚拟研讨会，以在专家之间就共生科多样性评估确定并建立进一步共识。通过正式化共识方法并广泛传播，该研讨会正在创建一个更具协作性和欢迎性的研究社区，并确保所有现有研究人员都能够参与其中。以及那些进入该领域的人，对申请资助、开展研究和发表包含共生科多样性工作的论文充满信心。本次研讨会正在定义额外的前瞻性研究重点，以预测未来方法学的进展。解决微生物的分子多样性是一项重大的技术挑战，特别是对于共生藻科的甲藻来说，这些与珊瑚和其他海洋无脊椎动物相关的微藻内共生体具有大量的基因组、高重复含量和其他独特的方面。随着测序技术的进步，我们对共生科多样性的理解也越来越深入，而这种多样性是从一种广泛存在的物种的假设中发展起来的。从 20 世纪 60 年代到现在，它涵盖了 15 个不同的属和可能数百个物种，这一发现过程充满了争议，因为最有用的系统发育标记——高度多样化的内部转录间隔区 2 (ITS2) 区域——令人沮丧地难以解释。核糖体阵列是多拷贝的，在不同的谱系中以不同的速率进化，并且它受到协同进化的影响，所有这些都使系统发育重建变得复杂。采样的珊瑚组织中含有可能来自多个共生科类群的共生细胞群，这使得表征伙伴特异性的工作变得复杂化。冲突导致了关于珊瑚-藻类关联的灵活性以及它们如何应对持续的气候变化的不同想法。下一代测序提供了更多数据，但相同的基本解释问题仍然存在。团队正在聚集来自世界各地的共生科先驱专家（从经验丰富的退伍军人到新晋博士），他们一致认为可以而且必须确定和推进解释共识框架，以推动该领域的发展。 “共识路线图”导致两个研讨会产品：1. 一份 NSF 白皮书；2. 一份开放获取、同行评审的手稿，通​​过研讨会前调查、四次研讨会会议、研讨会后合作和出版，该团队正在总结当前的实践，并推荐识别和分析共生科遗传多样性的关键方法，涵盖三个“伞”：1. 群落，2. 种群，3. 菌株。通过利用先前为 2022 年国际珊瑚礁研讨会开发的单独小型研讨会，研讨会参与者还重点介绍了未来十年的新技术和研究重点，这将有助于填补一些剩余的知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Building consensus around the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity

围绕共生科多样性的评估和解释建立共识

• DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15023
• 发表时间: 2023-01
• 期刊: PeerJ
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: Davies, Sarah W.;Gamache, Matthew H.;Howe;Kriefall, Nicola G.;Baker, Andrew C.;Banaszak, Anastazia T.;Bay, Line Kolind;Bellantuono, Anthony J.;Bhattacharya, Debashish;Chan, Cheong Xin;et al
• 通讯作者: et al