RAPID: Discovering Global Diversity in Pelagic Symbioses (Vessels of Opportunity)

RAPID：发现远洋共生中的全球多样性（机遇之船）

• 批准号: 2132455
• 负责人: Michael Dawson
• 金额: $ 15.54万
• 依托单位: University of California - Merced
• 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: 2021-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132455&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Discovering; Global; Diversity; Pelagic

Close relationships between different species, i.e., symbioses, are widespread and important biological interactions. Symbioses are integral to many wonders of the natural world, such as coral reefs and old growth forests, and are among the most important relationships for maintaining planetary and human health alike, including the pollination of flowering plants by insects, and the gut microbiome of large animals. However, our understanding of symbioses in the seas — which cover 70% of the planet’s surface and constitute 99% of its habitable volume — is scant. The goal of this project is to conduct a rapid and time-sensitive global survey of the diversity of symbionts associated with jellyfishes and other animals that specialize in making a living in the open waters of the coastal seas and oceans. This research will offer insights into adaptations to life in the world’s largest habitat by some of the most widespread and ecologically important predators on the planet. These symbioses likely also play other important roles, directly influencing the global carbon pump, and indirectly affecting coastal human activities as diverse as fisheries, power generation, and tourism. This project includes a diverse team and provides training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and early career researchers.Genetic analyses have revealed that marine metazoan species diversity is much greater than historical estimates and marine microbial diversity is immense. This project explores the idea that we are now poised to discover diverse marine metazoan-microbial pelagic symbioses. A rapid global survey of gelatinous zooplankton—a key convergent functional phenotype that has evolved independently in multiple phyla—is designed to estimate the prevalence of symbioses, the diversity of symbionts, and whether associations are constrained or flexible geographically, i.e., among populations within species, and taxonomically (at the levels of species and higher taxa). This project will [1] build on and extend collections for the Aquatic Symbioses Genomics (ASG) program, [2] collect replicated samples of diverse taxa, preserved for multiple traditional and ‘omics analyses, in a standardized manner and including reference environmental samples and [3] barcode the hosts and primary symbionts (e.g., zooxanthellae) and meta-barcode the microbiome of a representative cross-section of specimens. By discovering and documenting marine pelagic symbioses, the project also sets the scene for comparisons with benthic symbioses.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.

不同物种之间的密切关系，即共生关系，是广泛而重要的生物相互作用。共生关系是珊瑚礁和原始森林等自然世界的许多奇迹的组成部分，也是维持地球和人类健康的最重要的关系之一。然而，我们对海洋共生的理解——海洋覆盖了地球表面的 70%，构成了海洋的共生体。该项目的目标是对与水母和其他专门在沿海开放水域谋生的动物相关的共生体的多样性进行快速且及时的全球调查。这项研究将深入了解地球上一些分布最广泛、生态上最重要的捕食者对世界最大栖息地的生活的适应，这些共生关系可能还发挥着其他重要作用，直接影响全球碳。泵，并间接影响渔业、发电和旅游业等沿海人类活动。该项目包括一个多元化的团队，为本科生、研究生和早期职业研究人员提供培训机会。遗传分析表明，海洋后生动物物种多样性很大。该项目探讨了这样一个想法：我们现在准备发现多种海洋后生动物-微生物的上层共生体——一种关键的聚合功能。在多个门中独立进化的表型 - 旨在估计共生体的普遍性、共生体的多样性，以及在地理上（即物种内的种群之间）和分类学上（在物种和更高分类单元的水平上）是否受限制或灵活的关联该项目将 [1] 建立并扩展水生共生基因组学 (ASG) 计划的收集，[2] 收集不同类群的复制样本，并为多个传统和“组学”保存。以某种方式分析，包括参考环境样本和[3]对标准化宿主和主要共生体（例如虫黄藻）进行条形码，并对代表性样本横截面的微生物组进行元条形码通过发现和记录海洋中上层共生体，该项目还为与海底共生体的比较奠定了基础。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进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。