Microbial Observatories: Collaborative Research: A Cold Microbial Observatory: Collaborative Research in an Alaskan Boreal Forest Soil

微生物观测站：合作研究：冷微生物观测站：阿拉斯加北方森林土壤的合作研究

• 批准号: 0132085
• 负责人: Jo Handelsman
• 金额: $ 51.25万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-02-01 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0132085&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Microbial; Observatories; Collaborative; Research; Cold

A collaborative grant has been awarded to Drs. Jo Handelsman at the University of Wisconsin, Roger Ruess at the University of Alaska, Jill Banfield at the University of California-Berkeley, and William Metcalf at the University of Illinois to describe the diversity and function of the microbial life in Alaskan soil in a Long Term Ecological Research site. Microbial diversity and mechanisms of phosphorous acquisition will be studied by culturing and culture-independent molecular methods to access a wide spectrum of organisms. The culture independent methods will include "metagenomics," an approach involving cloning the genes from organisms directly from the environment, without requiring them to grow in culture. Diversity will be assessed by methods that rely on the sequences of genes that act as molecular signatures for microbial species. Cultured organisms and metagenomic clones will be screened for the ability (1) to grow on reduced forms of phosphorous as the sole P source and (2) to solubilize the dominant mineral forms of P in the forest soil that are identified by our mineralogical characterization. Soil contains a rich variety of uncultured microorganisms that outnumber the cultured organisms by a factor of 100 or 1000. The soils of interior Alaska represent a large and diverse habitat of the boreal forest whose micoorganisms, both cultured and uncultured, have been largely ignored. Recent studies of other cold environments have revealed novel and diverse microbial life, suggesting that the soils of Alaska will be a productive hunting ground for new microorganisms and new microbial functions. Little is known about phosphorous acquisition, which is essential to ecosystem function. The Microbial Observatory will contribute to our knowledge of the microbiology of cold soils, increase the diversity of cultured microorganisms, and potentially identify new microbial functions for coping with phosphorous limitation. The microorganisms cultured in this study and the metagenomic clones may also provide a new resource for biotechnology research for enzyme, drug, and agrichemical discovery.

威斯康星大学的Jo Handelsman博士、阿拉斯加大学的Roger Ruess博士、加州大学伯克利分校的Jill Banfield博士和伊利诺伊大学的William Metcalf博士获得了合作赠款，以描述长期生态研究地点阿拉斯加土壤中微生物生命的多样性和功能。将通过培养和非培养的分子方法来研究微生物的多样性和磷的获取机制，以获得广泛的生物范围。与培养无关的方法将包括“元基因组学”，这是一种直接从环境中克隆生物体基因的方法，不需要它们在培养中生长。多样性将通过依赖作为微生物物种分子签名的基因序列的方法进行评估。将对培养的生物和元基因组克隆进行筛选，以确定(1)生长在作为唯一磷来源的还原形态磷上的能力，以及(2)溶解我们的矿物学特征所确定的森林土壤中主要的磷矿物形态的能力。土壤中含有种类繁多的未培养微生物，其数量是培养微生物的100或1000倍。阿拉斯加内陆的土壤代表着北方森林的一大片多样化的栖息地，那里的微生物，无论是培养的还是未培养的，在很大程度上都被忽视了。最近对其他寒冷环境的研究揭示了新的和多样化的微生物生命，这表明阿拉斯加的土壤将成为新微生物和新微生物功能的高产狩猎场。对于对生态系统功能至关重要的磷的获取，人们知之甚少。微生物观测站将有助于我们了解寒冷土壤的微生物学，增加培养微生物的多样性，并有可能确定新的微生物功能，以应对磷限制。本研究中培养的微生物和元基因组克隆也可能为酶、药物和农化发现的生物技术研究提供新的资源。