Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Identifying Symbiont-Induced Changes to the Cnidarian Proteome that Govern a Symbiotic Cell State

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2024, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment, and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports the research and training of the fellow who will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Coral reef ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots that offer immense economic benefits through fisheries and ecotourism.

Photosynthetic algae live inside coral tissue in a mutually beneficial endosymbiotic relationship essential to coral survival. Rising ocean temperatures disrupt this endosymbiosis in a deadly phenomenon known as ‘bleaching’ wherein the colorful photosynthetic algae are expelled from the coral, leading to ecosystem collapse. Over the past several decades, ~50% of the world’s corals have been lost.

Little is known about the mechanisms underlying coral bleaching, preventing the development of successful amelioration actions. This research will benefit society by elucidating symbiotic mechanisms using genetic and biochemical techniques to better understand coral bleaching.

Upon symbiosis formation, algae enter the animal tissue from the environment and reprogram host biology to live within coral cells. A key question in the field is to identify genetic factors that regulate the formation of endosymbiosis and its breakdown due to heat stress. In this research, the fellow will develop a protocol to isolate and purify symbiotic cells at different stages of algal infection.

The proteome of these cell populations will be characterized by proteomics to determine host factors that change upon symbiosis formation to identify key regulators. Next, these putative regulators will be tested using cell biology and functional genetic methods to find those necessary for symbiosis formation. Finally, the fellow will characterize the conservation of these proteins across reef-building corals to determine the core regulatory mechanisms of symbiosis and study the role of these regulators during heat stress and bleaching.

In addition to the fellows’ research goals, they will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in science as a BioEYES teacher in Baltimore, MD, to teach genetics and developmental biology to K-12 students. The fellow will additionally develop and teach modules for BioEYES that are tangential to their research on coral bleaching and ocean conservation to cultivate interest in biological sciences and spread awareness on ocean health decline.

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.