Microbial Observatories: Collaborative Research Linking Microbial Discovery to Biogeochemical Processes: An Oligotrophic Oceanic Microbial Observatory

已向Carlson博士(加州大学圣巴巴拉分校)和Giovannoni博士(俄勒冈州立大学)颁发了一项赠款，用于研究开放海洋中主要微生物类群的细胞生物学和生物地球化学活动。该项目将侧重于百慕大大西洋时间序列研究(BATS)站点，该站点在过去十年中一直是开发用于测量微生物多样性的先进分子技术的试验台，是地球上时间最长的海洋条件时间序列研究之一。BATS的丰富数据集提供了重要的物理、化学和生物信息，微生物观测站利用这些信息了解海洋条件如何影响浮游微生物的活动。海洋微生物观测站将应用俄勒冈州立大学开发的一项新的高通量培养技术，对以前没有培养过的主要海洋微生物群进行鉴定、计数和培养。还将利用技术来表征这些微生物利用有机底物的质量和数量。异养微生物使用溶解有机碳(DOC)进行生长。全球溶解有机碳(DOC)池估计为685GT C，这个值与大气中无机C的质量相当。微生物对DOC代谢的微小扰动可能会影响海洋和大气二氧化碳之间的平衡，为理解微生物的动态和多样性如何影响DOM在海洋中的生产、消费和分布提供了强大的推动力。这些生物的基因组DNA序列、生化特性和DOC利用模式将在实验室进行研究。这些数据将用于实地研究，记录和解释微生物群落和DOC的自然变化模式。此外，该项目还将在百慕大生物研究站举办暑期课程，旨在使研究生接触最先进的分子生物学和海洋学技术。

A grant has been awarded to Drs. Carlson (University of California Santa Barbara) and Giovannoni (Oregon State University) to investigate the cell biology and Biogeochemical activities of the major microbial groups in the open ocean. This project will focus geographically on the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site, which for the past decade has been a test bed for the development of advanced molecular techniques for measuring microbial diversity, and is one of the longest time-series studies of oceanographic conditions on the planet. The rich data set from BATS provides important physical, chemical and biological information that is used by the microbial observatory to understand how ocean conditions affect the activities of planktonic microorganisms. The ocean microbial observatory will apply a new high throughput cultivation technology developed at Oregon State University to identify, count and cultivate the major oceanic microbial groups that have not previously been cultured. Technologies will also be employed to characterize the quality and quantity of organic substrate utilization by these microorganisms.Heterotrophic microorganisms use dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to grow. The global dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool is estimated to be 685 Gt C, a value comparable to the mass of inorganic C in the atmosphere. Small perturbations in the metabolism of DOC by microorganisms could impact the balance between oceanic and atmospheric carbon dioxide, providing a strong impetus to understand how the dynamics and diversity of microorganisms affect DOM production, consumption and distribution in the oceans. The genomic DNA sequences, biochemical properties and patterns of DOC utilization of these organisms will be studied in the laboratory. This data will be used in field studies that document and explain natural patterns of change in microbial communities and DOC. In addition this project will also host summer courses at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research designed to expose graduate students to state-of-the-art molecular biology and oceanographic techniques.