Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots of great ecological, economic, and aesthetic importance. Corals are able to thrive and build reefs in nutrient poor tropical waters due to an endosymbiotic relationship with dinoflagellate algae whose photosynthesis provide corals with their needed nutrition. However, rising ocean temperatures due to global warming causes the breakdown of this critical symbiosis (called ‘coral bleaching’) and the collapse of coral reefs worldwide. Despite the key role this symbiotic relationship plays in coral health, its molecular and cellular underpinnings are poorly understood, due primarily to a lack of tractable laboratory research models and genetic tools to study these processes. During the past several years, the Cleves lab has established reverse-genetic methods to interrogate gene function in a laboratory model system for coral biology, the symbiotic anemone Aiptasia. I will use these new genetic tools in combination with cellular, molecular, and developmental biology techniques to determine how algal symbionts are maintained by the animal host and how the symbiosis breaks down during heat stress. By investigating mechanisms of symbiosis and thermotolerance in this genetically tractable system, we will gain foundational understanding in how the changing world is impacting animal physiology, how microbes manipulate an animal stress response, and provide key molecular insights that may help predict and prevent the impacts of climate change on coral reef ecosystems.
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