Genomic Analysis of Unculturable Microbial Eukaryotic Plankton of the San Pedro Ocean Time Series Station

基因组序列的可用性为了解微生物的功能和生活方式以及它们如何与环境相互作用提供了基础。海洋微生物被认为是尚未开发的生物多样性的最大来源之一。然而，研究海洋原核微生物（如细菌）的分支学科比研究新近进化的单细胞真核生命形式的学科要先进得多。由于最近许多协调一致的研究工作，可以获得大型和完善的原核生物数据库，而海洋微观真核生物的基线基因组信息则远远不够先进。常用的分子方法评价分类多样性，对已鉴定生物潜在的生态作用或功能提供的信息有限。这里描述的程序旨在获得与已知生物体相关的大量详细DNA序列数据。将获得四种以前未被充分研究的海洋分类群的数据，这些分类群分别来自无尾藻、肺泡藻、层藻和尾藻。这些更详细的数据将大大增加公共领域环境微生物真核生物的基因组信息，并开始对原核生物和真核生物分类群之间的关系进行详细的研究。采样将在南加州大学（USC）位于圣佩德罗海峡的经过充分研究的海洋时间序列站进行，在那里，研究小组将获得在同一地点工作的其他科学家收集的丰富的生物和化学数据。这项研究具有巨大的希望，可以解开海洋微生物研究尚未得到充分研究的领域，并将有助于推进海洋微生物学和海洋宏基因组学领域的知识状态。除了基础研究外，该项目还将产生几项重大的更广泛的教育影响。基因组学是一个快速发展的领域，经常被大众误解。研究所得的资料将有助提升教学课程，并为本科生和研究生的研究提供机会。研究小组将与南加州大学瑞格利环境研究所（WIES）的教育工作者合作，为K通过灰色受众开发广泛的教育推广计划。WEIS项目是一个非凡的教育平台，这项工作非常适合加强他们现有的项目。该研究小组还将直接参与一项正在进行的教师教育加强计划（由美国国家科学基金会资助的海洋科学教育卓越中心；COSEE-West），该计划由南加州大学瑞格利研究所、加州大学洛杉矶分校和几个非正式的科学合作伙伴运营。coee - west项目在帮助洛杉矶联合学区（Los Angeles Unified school District）的初高中学生方面有着良好的记录，这些学生大多是经济上处于不利地位的西班牙裔、非裔美国人或其他少数族裔。与COSEE-West合作，研究和教育团队将开发模块，以增加现有的教师提升和学生丰富项目。最后，所有数据将汇总在一个专门的圣佩德罗海洋时间序列网站与所有团队成员网站的链接。

The availability of genome sequences provides the foundation for understanding how microorganisms function and live, and how they interact with their environments. Ocean microbes are thought to represent one of the greatest untapped sources of biodiversity. However, sub-disciplines studying marine prokaryote microbes, such as bacteria, are much further advanced than those studying more recently evolved unicellular eukaryotic life forms. Large and well-established prokaryote databases are available due to many recent concerted research efforts, while baseline genomic information for marine microscopic eukaryotes is far less advanced. Frequently used molecular methods to evaluate taxonomic diversity provide limited information on potential ecological roles or function of identified organisms. The program described here is designed to obtain large quantities of detailed DNA sequence data linked to known organisms. Data will be obtained for four previously understudied marine taxa from the Kingdoms Euglenozoa, Alveolata, Stramenopila and Cercozoa. These more detailed data will significantly increase genomic information on environmental microbial eukaryotes in the public domain and begin to allow detailed studies of relationships between and among prokaryote and eukaryote taxa. The sampling will take place at the University of Southern California's (USC) well-studied oceanographic time series station in the San Pedro channel, where the research team will have access to abundant biological and chemical data collected by other scientists working at the same site. This study holds tremendous promise to unlock an area of marine microbial research not well studied and will help to advance the state of knowledge within the field of marine microbiology and marine metagenomics.In addition to basic research, the project will also have several significant broader educational impacts. Genomics is a rapidly developing field that is often misunderstood by the general population. The information resulting from the research will enhance teaching curriculum and will provide opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate level research. The research team will partner with USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies (WIES) educators working to develop broad based educational outreach programs for K through grey audiences. The WEIS program is an extraordinary platform for education, and the work is ideally suited to enhance their existing programs. The research team will also participate directly in an ongoing teacher education enhancement program (the NSF funded Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence; COSEE-West) run by the USC Wrigley Institute, UCLA and several informal science partners. The COSEE-West program has a proven track record for reaching middle and high school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, most of whom are economically disadvantaged Hispanic, African-American or other ethnic minorities. In cooperation with COSEE-West, the research and education teams will develop modules to add to existing teacher enhancement and student enrichment projects. Finally, all data will be summarized on a dedicated San Pedro Ocean Time Series website with links from all team member websites.