SGER: Distribution of Photoheterotrophic Bacteria in the Ocean

去年在海洋中发现了一种新型细菌。原位红外荧光测量。这些细胞被称为好氧无氧光异养细胞，或AAPs，能够利用阳光和/或碳源作为能量。它们可以固定二氧化碳，但不像传统的光合作用植物那样产生氧气。它们被证明生活在沿海海域和东北太平洋。AAPs的生态作用和重要性尚不清楚。在目前的碳模型中，它们与异养细菌混淆，但可能起着非常不同的作用。该项目是一项用于探索性研究的小额赠款，将分析最近在西北大西洋进行的3次研究巡航收集的样本，以获取不同季节和不同营养梯度的AAP细胞计数，从生产性、缅因州沿海、缅因湾和乔治滩水域到马尾藻海的近海贫营养水域。该项目将首次对不同海洋生态系统和不同季节的aap进行定量估计，并首次表明这种新发现的微生物形式的潜在生态重要性。研究结果对认识海洋生态和海洋生物地球化学循环具有重要意义。

A new type of bacteria in the ocean was discovered this past year using in?situ infrared fluorescence measurements. These cells, termed aerobic, anoxygenic photoheterotrophs, or AAPs, are capable of using sunlight and/or carbon sources for energy. They can fix C02, but do not produce oxygen as traditional photosynthesizers do. They were shown to live in coastal ocean waters and in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. The ecological role and importance of AAPs is not known. In current carbon models they are confounded with heterotrophic bacteria, yet may play a very different role. This project, a small grant for exploratory research, will analyze samples collected from 3 recent research cruises in the NW Atlantic for counts of AAP cells across seasons and across a trophic gradient from productive, coastal Maine, Gulf of Maine, and Georges Bank waters to offshore oligotrophic waters of the Sargasso Sea. This project will provide some of the first quantitative estimates of AAPs in different marine ecosystems and over different seasons, and will give the first indication of the potential ecological importance of this newly discovered microbial form. The findings from this study should have broad significance in understanding ocean ecology and biogeochemical cycling in the oceans.