Bacterial exposure mediates developmental plasticity and resistance to lethal Vibrio lentus Infection in purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) larvae

Exposure to and colonization by bacteria during development have wide-ranging beneficial effects on animal biology but can also inhibit growth or cause disease. The immune system is the prime mediator of these microbial interactions and is itself shaped by them. Studies using diverse animal taxa have begun to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the acquisition and transmission of bacterial symbionts and their interactions with developing immune systems. Moreover, the contexts of these associations are often confounded by stark differences between ‘wild type’ microbiota and the bacterial communities associated with animals raised in conventional or germ-free laboratories. In this study, we investigate the spatio-temporal kinetics of bacterial colonization and associated effects on growth and immune function in larvae of the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) as a model for host-microbe interactions and immune system development. We also compare the host-associated microbio...在个体发育进程中接触细菌并被其定殖，对动物生物学具有广泛的有益影响，但也可能抑制生长或引发疾病。免疫系统是这类微生物相互作用的核心介导因子，其自身的发育也会被这些相互作用所塑造。针对多样动物类群的相关研究已逐步阐明细菌共生体（symbiont）的获取与传递机制，以及它们与发育中免疫系统的相互作用模式。此外，这类共生关联的研究情境常因‘野生型’微生物群（microbiota）与常规饲养（conventional）或无菌（germ-free）实验室饲养动物所携带的细菌群落之间的显著差异而产生混杂效应，难以精准解析实验结果。本研究以紫色海胆（Strongylocentrotus purpuratus）幼虫作为宿主-微生物互作与免疫系统发育的研究模型，探究其细菌定殖的时空动力学（spatio-temporal kinetics）特征，以及该过程对生长与免疫功能的相关影响。本研究还将对比宿主相关微生物群落