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如何发挥功能和生活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生物多样性最大的未开发资源之一。 然而，研究海洋原核微生物（如细菌）的分支学科比研究最近进化的单细胞真核生命形式的分支学科要先进得多。由于最近许多协调一致的研究努力，大型和完善的原核生物数据库是可用的，而海洋微观真核生物的基线基因组信息远不如先进。 经常使用的分子生物学方法来评估分类多样性提供有限的信息，潜在的生态作用或功能的生物体。这里描述的程序旨在获得大量与已知生物体相关的详细DNA序列数据。 数据将获得四个以前未充分研究的海洋类群从王国眼虫，泡状，Stravenila和Cercozoa。这些更详细的数据将显着增加在公共领域的环境微生物真核生物的基因组信息，并开始允许原核生物和真核生物类群之间的关系的详细研究。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学时间序列站进行，研究小组将在那里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。 这项研究为开启尚未得到充分研究的海洋微生物研究领域带来了巨大的希望，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水平。除了基础研究，该项目还将产生几个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，但经常被大众误解。从研究中得到的信息将提高教学课程，并将为本科生和研究生水平的研究提供机会。该研究小组将与南加州大学箭牌环境研究所（威斯）的教育工作者合作，通过灰色受众为K开发基础广泛的教育推广计划。WEIS计划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计划。研究团队还将直接参与由南加州大学箭牌研究所，加州大学洛杉矶分校和几个非正式科学合作伙伴正在进行的教师教育增强计划（NSF资助的海洋科学教育卓越中心; COSEE-West）。COSEE-West计划在覆盖洛杉矶联合学区的初中和高中学生方面有着良好的记录，这些学生中的大多数是经济上处于不利地位的西班牙裔、非洲裔美国人或其他少数民族。 研究和教育小组将与COSEE-West合作开发模块，以补充现有的教师提高和学生充实项目。最后，所有数据将汇总在一个专门的圣佩德罗海洋时间系列网站上，该网站具有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.