Microbial Observatories: Collaborative Research: Microbial Diversity and Function in the Permanently Ice-Covered Lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

已向J.Priscu博士(蒙大拿州立大学)、M.Madigan博士(南伊利诺伊大学)、B.Lanoil博士(加州大学河滨分校)和S.Giovannoni博士(俄勒冈州立大学)颁发了研究南极洲麦克默多干谷永久冰盖湖泊中原核生物的赠款，目的是识别和描述新的生物体，并阐明它们的基因组和新陈代谢中对了解它们在生物地球化学循环中的作用至关重要的那些方面。这项研究将使用分子工具与常规和高通量养殖技术相结合，确定对这些湖泊中存在的当代地球化学梯度负有责任的具有代表性的原核生物群。麦克默多干谷形成了地球上已知的最干燥、最寒冷的生态系统，直到最近，人们还认为那里几乎没有生命。为这些湖泊建立微生物观测站的主要原因是，不仅要了解环境如何控制生物多样性，而且要了解多样性本身如何控制生态系统的功能。麦克默多干谷湖泊系统以一种独特的方式回答了这个问题。鉴于这些湖泊与世隔绝，缺乏高等生命形式，以及它们的进化历史，它们为寻找新的微生物和研究微生物多样性与生态系统功能的相互作用提供了一个独特的实验场所。这项研究的结果将对不断增长的生物多样性、生物技术、地球生物学、极地生态学和天体生物学的文献具有重要意义。研究人员将与现有的和拟议的新计划合作，将研究期间收集的系统发育和生理数据存档，以便所有感兴趣的人都可以通过互联网轻松访问这些数据。将与NSF极地计划办公室和麦克默多长期生态研究站支持的高度可见的教育、外展和人类多样性计划建立强有力的联系，产生一个将对社会产生广泛影响的项目。

Grants have been awarded to Drs. J. Priscu (Montana State University), M. Madigan (Southern Illinois University), B. Lanoil (University of California - Riverside) and S.Giovannoni (Oregon State University) to study prokaryotic organisms within the permanently ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica with the objectives of identifying and characterizing novel organisms and elucidating those aspects of their genome and metabolism that are critical to understanding their role in biogeochemical cycles. The study will use molecular tools in concert with conventional and high throughput culturing techniques to define representative prokaryotic groups responsible for the contemporary geochemical gradients that exist in these lakes. The McMurdo Dry Valleys form the driest and coldest ecosystem known on Earth and has, until relatively recently, been thought to harbor little life. A primary reason for establishing a Microbial Observatory for these lakes is to understand not just how the environment controls the diversity of organisms, but also how diversity itself controls the functioning of ecosystems. The McMurdo Dry Valley lake systems lend themselves to answering this question in a unique way. Given the isolation, the lack of higher life forms, and the evolutionary history of these lakes, they offer a unique experimental arena to search for novel microorganisms and study the interplay of microbial diversity and ecosystem function. Results from this study will be significant to the growing bodies of literature in biodiversity, biotechnology, geobiology, polar ecology, and astrobiology. The investigators will work with existing and proposed new programs to archive the phylogenetic and physiological data collected during the study so that all interested can access it easily through the Internet. Strong linkages will be made with the highly visible education, outreach and human diversity programs supported by the NSF Office of Polar Programs and the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research station, yielding a project that will have a broad impact on society.