BRC-BIO: Establishing Astrangia poculata as a study system to understand how multi-partner symbiotic interactions affect pathogen response in cnidarians

BRC-BIO：建立 Astrangia poculata 作为研究系统，以了解多伙伴共生相互作用如何影响刺胞动物的病原体反应

• 批准号: 2312555
• 负责人: Lauren Fuess
• 金额: $ 49.03万
• 依托单位: Texas State University - San Marcos
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2312555&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRC; BIO; Establishing; Astrangia; poculata; BRC; BIO; Establishing; Astrangia; poculata

Many animals form complex associations with an assortment of microbial organisms have significant effects on host health. This project aims to understand how variability in host-microbe associations affects animal health, focusing specifically on corals. The project uses Astrangia, a non-threatened relative of endangered reef-building corals, as a model for understanding how coral-microbe interactions impact disease response. Tropical corals, and their associated coral reef ecosystems, are experiencing dramatic declines due to increasing disease prevalence. The results of the proposed research will advance understanding of how associations between corals and microbial organisms affect disease resistance. The knowledge gathered can be applied to help direct coral restoration efforts. Additionally, this project will provide training opportunities for the development of students at a Hispanic serving institution. A new summer research experience for students at Texas State University will be created, and linked with existing summer programs at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. Each summer a cohort of 4-5 undergraduate students will engage in project related research and reciprocal exchanges across the two institutions. The program will create a community of undergraduate researchers and provide support for their career development. The project will also support two graduate students per year and the career development of an early career researcher. This project is being cofunded by the BRC-BIO program and Biological Oceanography (GEO).Symbiotic associations are ubiquitous throughout nature and have significant implications for host fitness. Still, understanding of the extent of natural variation in these associations and the implications of this variation on host disease resistance is limited. This project leverages a facultatively symbiotic coral system (Astrangia poculata) to explore natural variation in multi-partner symbioses (host, photosymbiont, microbiome) and the effects of this variation on host response to pathogens. Specifically, the proposed project will 1) investigate natural variation in coral multi-partner associations across populations, focusing on variability in symbiont characteristics (microbiome composition; algal symbiont density, genetics, and gene expression) and effects of this variation on constitutive immunity; and 2) investigate whether this variation is linked to differences in response to pathogens and disease susceptibility. When examining natural variation, we will use integrative ‘omics techniques to elucidate how variability in each symbiotic partner affects the others. Then, we will use experimental pathogen challenges to determine whether observed variation in these associations influences pathogen response. We predict that significant variation will exist in symbiotic associations across sampled populations, and that this variation will have effects on pathogen response and ultimately disease susceptibility. The proposed project will serve as a significant contribution to the field of ecological immunology by advancing understanding of how multi-partner symbioses drive health and resilience in animal hosts.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.

许多动物与各种微生物形成复杂的关联对宿主健康有重大影响。该项目旨在了解宿主 - 微生物协会的变异性如何影响动物健康，专门针对珊瑚。该项目使用天文学家（Astrangia），这是濒临灭绝的礁石建造珊瑚的无威胁亲戚，作为了解珊瑚微叶相互作用如何影响疾病反应的模型。热带珊瑚及其相关的珊瑚礁生态系统，由于疾病患病率的增加，正经历着急剧下降。拟议的研究结果将提高人们对珊瑚与微生物之间的关联如何影响疾病抗性的理解。收集的知识可用于指导珊瑚恢复工作。此外，该项目将为西班牙裔服务机构的学生发展提供培训机会。将为德克萨斯州立大学的学生提供新的夏季研究经验，并与罗德岛州罗杰·威廉姆斯大学的现有夏季课程联系在一起。每年夏天，有4-5名本科生的队列将在两个机构进行项目相关研究和相互交流。该计划将创建一个本科研究人员的社区，并为其职业发展提供支持。该项目还将每年支持两名研究生和早期职业研究员的职业发展。 BRC-BIO计划和生物海洋学（GEO）都使该项目占据了。共生的关联在整个自然界都是无处不在的，并且对宿主的适应性具有重要意义。尽管如此，了解这些关联的自然变异程度以及这种变异对宿主疾病抗性的影响还是有限的。该项目利用一种辅助共生珊瑚系统（天文精植物）来探索多方符号（宿主，摄影，摄影，微生物组）的自然变化，以及这种变化对病原体宿主反应的影响。具体而言，拟议的项目将1）研究跨种群的珊瑚多伴侣关联的自然变化，重点是符号特征（微生物组组成；藻类象征意义，遗传学和基因表达）的变异性以及这种变异对组成型免疫的影响； 2）研究这种差异是否与对病原体和疾病易感性的反应差异有关。在检查自然变异时，我们将使用集成的“ OMICS技术”来阐明每个共生伴侣中的变异性如何影响其他伴侣。然后，我们将使用实验性病原体挑战来确定这些关联中观察到的变化是否会影响病原体反应。我们预测，在抽样种群之间的共生关联中将存在显着差异，并且这种差异将对病原体反应和最终疾病敏感性产生影响。拟议的项目将通过促进对多方符号如何推动动物宿主的健康和韧性的理解来为生态免疫学领域做出重大贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估通过评估而被认为是珍贵的支持。