Collaborative Research: Comprehensive Chemical Characterization of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter using Efficient Isolation Coupled to Advanced Analytical Techniques

溶解有机物（DOM）是地球上最大的活性碳库之一，在海洋和全球海洋地球化学过程中起着重要作用。 确定DOM的详细组成和结构提供了无与伦比的回报，因为它们的信息丰富，代表了一套独特的地球化学示踪剂，能够提供重要的见解，其母沃茨的起源和成岩作用的变化，发生在这些沃茨在运输过程中。 最近的分析突破有可能使我们的分析窗口内的海洋DOM的主要部分，从而极大地促进了DOM的“分子信息”的阅读。 此外，使用反渗透结合电渗析（RO/艾德）分离DOM的能力也有了很大的提高，现在可以分离高达95%的海洋DOM，而以前的技术只能分离10-40%。在这项研究中，来自Old自治领大学的新研究员将领导一个团队，该团队还包括格鲁吉亚理工学院，该团队将联合收割机改进海洋DOM的分离与超高分辨率FT-ICR MS和先进NMR光谱的无与伦比的能力相结合，以获得对海洋DOM组成和控制其组成的地球化学过程的重大新见解。本研究的主要目标是：（1）表征海洋DOM池中占主导地位的生物难降解DOM，（2）表征上升流区新产生的DOM和贫营养亚热带环流沃茨中积累的半生物不稳定和光漂白DOM;和（3）将RO/艾德分离的DOM与原始样品和使用超滤和固相萃取分离的DOM（例如，XAD和C18）。在更广泛的影响方面，这项研究将为未来的海洋和全球生物地球化学研究奠定基础，这些先进的技术可以用来追踪DOM的化合物或组分类别，从它们的各种来源，沿着它们的各种成岩作用和运输路径，到它们的出口点，微生物吸收或矿化。此外，初步研究报告将为海洋生物地球化学界提供急需的参考资料。拟议的研究将支持ODU的新助理研究教授和三名博士生。与WHOI，MIT和HOT网站的研究人员的合作关系将促进合作的实地研究。将通过建立一个专门的项目网站，并酌情通过公众和新闻媒体的互动，促进公众外联和信息传播。

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays major roles in oceanic and global biogeochemical processes as it is one of the Earth's largest active carbon pools. Determining the detailed composition and structure of DOM offers unparalleled rewards as their informational richness represents a unique set of biogeochemical tracers capable of providing important insights into the origins of their parent waters and the diagenetic alterations that have occurred within those waters during transport. Recent analytical breakthroughs have the potential to bring a major fraction of marine DOM within our analytical window, thus greatly facilitating the reading of DOM's "molecular messages". In addition, there has been promising improvement in the ability to isolate DOM using reverse osmosis coupled with electrodialysis (RO/ED) that can now isolate up to 95% of marine DOM compared to ~10-40% for previous techniques. In this research, a new investigator from Old Dominion University will lead a team that also includes Georgia Institute of Technology that will combine improved isolation of marine DOM with the unparalleled power of ultra-high resolution FT-ICR MS and advanced NMR spectroscopy to gain major new insights into the composition of marine DOM and the biogeochemical processes controlling its composition. The main goals of this proposed study are to: (1) characterize bio-refractory DOM that dominates the marine DOM pool especially in the deep sea; (2) characterize newly produced DOM in an upwelling region and the semi-biolabile and photobleached DOM that accumulates in oligotrophic, subtropical gyre surface waters; and (3) compare RO/ED isolated DOM to the original sample and to DOM isolated using ultrafiltration and solid-phase extraction (e.g., XAD and C18). In terms of broader impacts, this research will lay the foundations for future oceanic and global biogeochemical studies where these advanced techniques can be used to trace compounds or component classes of DOM from their multifarious sources, along their various paths of diagenesis and transport, to their points of export, microbial uptake or mineralization. In addition, the PIs will provide critically needed precursory reference material for the marine biogeochemical community. The proposed study will support a new Assistant Research Professor at ODU and three doctoral students. Collaborative ties with investigators from WHOI, MIT and the HOT site will foster cooperative field-based research. Public outreach and information dissemination will be facilitated by creation of a dedicated project website and through public and news media interactions, as appropriate.