Acquisition of an Isotope-Ratio Mass Spectrometer and Moving-Wire Interface for Hydrogen- and Carbon-Isotopic biogeochemistry

这项主要研究仪器奖授予了加州理工学院，用于购买一台同位素比质谱仪，一台带热解界面的气相色谱仪，用于分析脂质中的氘/氢，以及一台用于分析RNA等复合性生物聚合物的13C的移动线接口。这种移动线接口目前还没有商业化，将在加州理工学院制造。该仪器将用于支持生物地球化学的两个领域的研究。首先，PI和他的同事们计划解决rrna靶向探针的使用问题，将有机物质的同位素分析引导到单个物种的水平。一个例子是使用rRNA中的13C来跟踪微生物群落中甲烷衍生碳的流动，这些微生物群落进行厌氧甲烷氧化。第二个研究重点是利用化合物特定的脂质氘/氢同位素比值来研究厌氧沉积物的生物地球化学。拟议的仪器将用于开发新的同位素方法，并将其与分子生物学工具相结合，创造新的分析技术，以解决新兴领域“地球生物学”的研究课题，并将其应用于从微生物学到有机地球化学等领域。加州理工学院将从非联邦基金中为设备购置提供30%的成本分摊。该提案得到了美国国家科学基金会海洋科学部的支持。＊＊＊

0321339SessionsThis Major Research Instrumentation award to California Institute of Technology provides funds for acquisition of an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph with pyrolysis interface for deuterium/hydrogen analyses of lipids, and a moving-wire interface for 13C analyses of involatile biopolymers such as RNA. The moving-wire interface, which is not commercially available, will be built at Caltech. The instrumentation will be used to support two areas of research in biogeochemistry. First, the PI and his colleagues plan to address use of rRNA-targeted probes to direct isotopic analyses of organic materials to the level of individual species. An example would use 13C in rRNA to follow the flow of methane-derived carbon through microbial communities that conduct anaerobic methane oxidation. The second research focus will employ compound-specific deuterium/hydrogen isotopic ratios of lipids to study the biogeochemistry of anaerobic sediments. The proposed instrumentation will be used to develop new isotopic methods and combine them with molecular biological tools, creating new analytical techniques to address research topics in the emerging field of 'geobiology,' with related applications to fields from microbiology to organic geochemistry. Caltech is providing cost-share towards the equipment acquisition of 30% of the project cost from non-federal funds. This proposal is supported by the Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF. ***