Project: Collaborative Research: Tracking the interacting roles of the environment, host genotype, and a novel Rickettsiales in coral disease susceptibility

NSF Award Abstract:
Historically one of the most abundant reef-building corals in Florida and the wider Caribbean, the staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, is now listed as critically endangered primarily because of previous and reoccurring disease events. Understanding the holistic mechanisms of disease susceptibility in this coral is a top concern of practitioners engaged in conservation and restoration. The investigators recently discovered a group of parasitic bacteria common within the microbial community of A. cervicornis that can reduce the growth and health of corals when reefs are exposed to nutrient polluted waters. Determining how interactions among the coral host, this parasitic microbe, and the environment are linked to disease susceptibility provides critical insight and greater success of future restoration efforts. Yet the complexity of animal microbiomes and the contextual nature of disease make it difficult to identify the specific cause of many disease outbreaks. In this project, the investigators conduct experiments to explore the interactions among different genetic strains of coral and these bacteria in various nutrient scenarios to better understand how this bacterium affects the susceptibility of staghorn coral to diseases. This project also characterizes the genomics, host range, and local and global distribution of this bacterial coral parasite to determine how its evolutionary history and physiology drive disease susceptibility in this important coral species. The project trains two postdocs, one technician, and seven students (one graduate, six undergraduates) in integrative sciences that span marine science, physiology, genetics, microbiology, omics, and statistical modeling. A research-based after school program in Florida is expanded to include microbiology and create a new program module called Microbial warriors, with a focus on women in science. The investigators produce documentary style films and outreach materials to broadly communicate the project science and conservation efforts to local and national communities via presentations at Mote Marine Lab and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. This project is co-funded by the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences and the Symbiosis, Defense, and Self-recognition Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems.

The investigators recently identified a marine Rickettsiales bacterium that, in corals, can be stimulated to grow in the presence of elevated nitrogen and phosphorous species. Based on genomic reconstruction and phylogeography, this bacteria is classified as a novel bacterial genus, Candidatus Aquarickettsia, and showed that it is broadly associated with scleractinian corals worldwide. Importantly, using a model system, the endangered Acropora cervicornis coral, the team has also shown that the growth of this bacterium in vivo is associated with reduced host growth and increased disease susceptibility. This project aims to more completely evaluate the mechanisms behind and impacts of these inducible infections on coral physiology and host-bacterial symbiosis. The investigators conduct nutrient dosing experiments on different coral genotypes with various Rickettsiales abundances. Using a range of omics and microscopy techniques, the team quantifies the resulting effects on holobiont phenotypes. The investigators are also comparing the genomes of these bacteria in the different Acroporid hosts and other coral genera to evaluate facets of the bacterium's evolutionary history, as well as to identify possible mechanisms of its proliferation, virulence, and host specificity. This interdisciplinary project mechanistically links nutrients to temporal changes in host, algal symbiont, and bacterial parasite physiology and also explain why there is natural variation in these responses by exploring how host and parasite genotypes and growth dynamics combined with environmental contextuality alter holobiont phenotypes.

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.