Week 1 HW: Principles and Practices

First, describe a biological engineering application or tool you want to develop and why.

Coral Reefs are the Rainforests of the Sea

Coral reefs cover roughly 284,300 km² of the ocean — an area larger than the United Kingdom — and are the only living structures visible from space. Named the “rainforests of the sea,” they support nearly a quarter of all marine life, encompassing more than 830,000 multicellular species, despite occupying less than one percent of the ocean’s surface. Their importance extends far beyond marine ecosystems: coral reefs contribute an estimated $11 trillion annually to the global economy and sustain the livelihoods of around one billion people, making their health tightly linked to that of the planet as a whole.

Threats to Coral Reefs

Despite this wealth of ecological and economic value, coral reefs are in rapid decline. Approximately 50% of global coral reef cover has been lost since the 1950s, and ongoing anthropogenic pressures —particularly rising CO₂ emissions and ocean warming —threaten the extinction of most corals by 2070. Among the most devastating consequences of these stressors is coral bleaching. Since the late 20th century, reefs have experienced four mass bleaching events, each more severe than the last, highlighting severity of this issue.

The Microbial Hypothesis of Bleaching

A stable microbiome is critical for coral health, but it is highly sensitive to environmental change. The microbial hypothesis of coral bleaching proposes that warming oceans drive a dysbiosis in the coral microbiome, shifting it toward opportunistic and pathogenic communities that increase susceptibility to disease. While elevated temperatures and microbiome shifts are strongly correlated with coral disease, disease emergence ultimately depends on the disease triad, which include a causative agent. Members of the genus Vibrio are strongly implicated in bacterial bleaching, as they can disrupt the coral–algal symbiosis. Notably, their virulence is temperature-dependent, intensifying under thermal stress and exacerbating bleaching outcomes.

The Solution: Engineered Probiotics

Engineered probiotics offer a promising strategy to counteract these challenges by enabling targeted manipulation of beneficial coral-associated microbes. Endozoicomonas, a dominant symbiont in healthy corals, is widely regarded as an indicator of coral health, offering corals with a host of benefits. By engineering Endozoicomonas to express oxidoreductase systems, heat shock proteins for thermal resilience, and narrow-spectrum quorum-sensing inhibitors that disrupt pathogenic signaling, it may be possible to enhance coral resistance to thermal stress and bacterial bleaching, thereby stabilizing the coral microbiome and supporting reef survival in a warming ocean. Furthermore, expressing the aforementioned genes under a heat-sensitive genetic switch both reduces burden and increases specificity.

Next, describe one or more governance/policy goals related to ensuring that this application or tool contributes to an “ethical” future, like ensuring non-malfeasance (preventing harm). Break big goals down into two or more specific sub-goals.

Next, describe at least three different potential governance “actions” by considering the four aspects below (Purpose, Design, Assumptions, Risks of Failure & “Success”).

1. Purpose: What is done now and what changes are you proposing?
2. Design: What is needed to make it “work”? (including the actor(s) involved - who must opt-in, fund, approve, or implement, etc)
3. Assumptions: What could you have wrong (incorrect assumptions, uncertainties)?
4. Risks of Failure & “Success”: How might this fail, including any unintended consequences of the “success” of your proposed actions?

Next, score (from 1-3 with, 1 as the best, or n/a) each of your governance actions against your rubric of policy goals. The following is one framework but feel free to make your own:

Last, drawing upon this scoring, describe which governance option, or combination of options, you would prioritize, and why. Outline any trade-offs you considered as well as assumptions and uncertainties.

Keeping in mind both the current coral conservation research state and the rapid decline in coral health, a dual-pronged approach would be ideal. Specifically, an approach that combines both a well-established governance option yielding modest effects with a high-risk, high-reward governance option will result in both short-term and long-term effects. Thus, given the governance rubric above, I would prioritize coral farming as the well-established option and coral probiotics as the high-risk, high-reward option. I think aritifical reefs should will likely not result in the optimal end (i.e. coral conservation) and may in fact lead to off-tagret effects; thus, they should not be pursued at this time. Coral farming, which has yielded positive results, should be scaled-up to areas susceptible to bleaching, while including local stakeholders. On the other hand, a call-to-action for research into the more radical coral probiotics approach should be initiated and ongoing research supported.

Reflecting on what you learned and did in class this week, outline any ethical concerns that arose, especially any that were new to you. Then propose any governance actions you think might be appropriate to address those issues. This should be included on your class page for this week.

A point of both interest and concern is the concept of bio-futures. With any given technology – be it developed beneficently or otherwise – there is a chance for a destructive future in place of the constructive future it was (hopefully) intended for; and with that, a greater ethical obligation on scientists to be intentional in their endeavors and critical in what they consider ‘safe’, as dual-use is always a possibility in research. Therefore, conversations regarding responsible conducts and biosafety measures should be initiated, and regulations should keep up with rapidly changing fields, such as synthetic biology.