Difference between revisions of "Team:Georgia State/Human Practices"

Why we approached her: Alanna is a marine biologist at Nova Southeastern University. Because Alanna is currently working in the field as a research assistant in a Coral Reef Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Lab, we thought she’d be a great person to teach us the basics of coral bleaching

What we asked her about: Why and how coral bleaching occurs, mechanisms of recovery, and the symbiotic relationship between corals and algae.

What we learned: No definitive cause for bleaching has been determined, but some likely factors include: extreme temp., high irradiance, prolonged darkness, heavy metal pollution, and pathogenic microorganisms. When the bleaching-inducing stressors disappear, recovery is still not guaranteed. Coral bleaching minimizes the number of fish in the surrounding area. Without fish that consume macroalgae, the already strained corals can be overpowered. On top of this, the gaps between bleaching events are about half as long as they used to be. This isn’t enough time for the corals to fully recover. Alanna also informed us that certain proteins produced by the algal symbionts have been associated with an increased resistance to bleaching. These include: fluorescent proteins, heat shock proteins, and antioxidant enzymes. After learning from Alanna that bleaching is less likely in corals with high algae diversity, we decided to make several different modifications to our symbiodinium rather than just one. We plan on introducing genes that encode fluorescent and heat shock proteins in one alga and antioxidant genes into another. Additionally, we will transform other algae to express a combination of these proteins at varying levels.

Why we approached her: Dr. Joyner is a marine biology professor at our university. We also noticed that she’s an author of a couple publications regarding Agrobacterium Tumefaciens, a bacteria utilized in our project.

What we asked her about: We met with Dr. Joyner expecting to talk about A. Tumefaciens, but she ended up being very knowledgeable about corals themselves.

What we learned: Dr. Joyner introduced the sea anenome Aptasia to us. She suggested we use Aptasia as a model organism to study coral uptake of algae because it is relatively easy to culture and uptakes in a similar way to that of corals. We were initially going to test our modified algae on one of the most common corals in the Carribean: Elkhorn coral, but this organism is much harder to culture and isn’t as easy to obtain because of its position on the critically endangered list. We also learned of the importance of bacterial symbionts that produce mucus layers on the corals to protect from microbial predators.

Why we approached her: Kim Stone studies corals at the GA Aquarium, which is only a 20 minute walk from GSU. She’s an expert on coral husbandry and conducts her own sustainability research on these organisms.

What we asked her about: We wanted to learn more about how to care for corals in a lab setting along with how to introduce our modified symbiodinium into them.

What we learned: We had an incredible talk with Kim Stone that ended with a potential partnership in the future. We didn’t realize before this talk that getting the coral to uptake the algae would be a grand project by itself. We thought that we would either dump our modified symbiodinium into a region of coral reef or directly inject the algae into the corals using a syringe-like tool. Stone proposed a much more practical and efficient method. She offered us a system of tanks that can be temperature and light-intensity regulated. We now plan on using these tanks to test a variety of approaches to prompt the coral uptake of our modified algae. We’ll have to start by deliberately bleaching the corals of their existing algae then transfer them to a new tank filled with our transformed symbiodinium. Kim Stone also recommended that we move away from the Aptasia model and shift instead towards a large and stony coral such as Caulastraea furcata. Compared to small soft corals, large stony ones are easier to culture, and early signs of bleaching are not as difficult to detect. Although Aptasia offers these benefits, Caulastraea furcata will be a much better representation of coral species as a whole due to its phylogeny.

Why we approached him: To inform ourselves about handling genetically engineered algae, especially if we have plans to take it outside of the lab one day. So we contacted Dr. Jonathan Shurin, the Director of the California Center for algae biotechnology at the University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Shurin and other researchers at USC were the first to conduct an EPA-approved outdoor experiment using microalgae. He and his team worked on culturing several strains of algae in large ponds at USC.

What we asked him about: We wanted to ask Dr. Shurin more about the legal implications of getting genetically modified algae from inside the lab to the outside world. What does that process look like and what was their experience in doing so. We set up a phone interview with Dr. Shurin and learned lots!

What we learned: Before being able to introduce the modified algae to an external environment, they had to review EPA regulations and fill out a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Environmental Release Application (TERA) form. The EPA reviews the submitted application and determines if the engineered organism possesses an “unreasonable risk or injury to a human and/or the environment.” He advised our team to plan in advance, as this can be a lengthy process, if we consider introducing our modified algae to another environment. He also provided several tips for culturing the transformed algae including using different types of media (solid or liquid), using constant factors such as temperature and light levels, and to not give up. Considering this was GSU’s iGEM team first time culturing/transforming algae, we were really having a difficult time. He advised us to be patient and to follow the usual trial and error method of figuring out the most optimal way to grow them. He really emphasized the importance of being able to regulate the growth and dispersion of the modified algae, as it could be a potential risk to other organisms. In their experiment, q-PCR was used to determine when the modified algae had spread into the other bodies of water which they identified as “tank traps.” Preventing contamination was also a big issue to combat when they were growing large cultures, so they were advised by the EPA to rinse material that came into contact with the algae with bleach as well to cover the ponds with bird netting. Speaking to Dr. Shurin really gave us a boost of confidence and led us to really think about the future directions once we successfully transform the algae.