EST Sequencing and Comparative Genomics of the Globally Significant Marine Phytoplankton Phaeocystis Globosa

球形棕囊藻是一种全球重要的海洋浮游植物，它形成大量水华，向深海输出大量碳，并在此过程中从大气中清除大量二氧化碳。棕囊藻是不寻常的，因为它表现出生活周期的变化之间的孤立细胞和大的凝胶状菌落。这些不同的生活习惯可能对整个食物网产生重大影响。例如，典型的有鳍鱼类渔业依赖浮游动物作为食物。 一个棕囊藻水华可以破坏这种渔业，因为凝胶状的殖民地不能被浮游动物或鳍鱼吃。相反，棕囊藻成为海洋食物网中不太受欢迎的成员的食物，如水母，然后统治这个生态系统。棕囊藻的水华通常在北大西洋沃茨中占主导地位，并通过在水华消退期间在海滩上积累产生有气味的泡沫来影响渔业，养鱼业和沿海旅游业。密集的水华对贝类的生长和繁殖有害，并导致渔网堵塞、鱼类死亡和鱼类口味的改变。棕囊藻的成功是生命周期阶段、一系列菌落大小和捕食者激活防御的结合，与竞争浮游植物相比，捕食者激活防御降低了其死亡率。因此，棕囊藻是研究海洋浮游生态系统复杂性的重要生物。将评估球形棕囊藻对生态胁迫和刺激的分子水平（例如基因表达）反应。对表达基因的比较分析将开始产生关于这一重要物种的生物化学、生理学和生态学的新信息。此外，该项目的基因组和基因表达数据库将成为一个社区资源，并将支持许多关于海洋生态系统中这一关键生物的生态学和进化的项目。此外，PI将为代表性不足的群体的学生创造实习机会，以进行基因组学和生物信息学培训。

Phaeocystis globosa is a globally important species of marine phytoplankton that forms massive blooms which export significant amounts of carbon to the deep sea and, in the process, remove a significant amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phaeocystis is unusual in that it exhibits life cycle changes between solitary cells and large gelatinous colonies. These different life habits can have major impacts on entire food webs. For example, typical finfish fisheries rely on zooplankton for food. A Phaeocystis bloom can disrupt this fishery because the gelatinous colonies can not be eaten by the zooplankton or the finfish. Instead, the Phaeocystis become food for less desirable members of the marine food web, like jellyfish, which then dominate this ecosystem. Phaeocystis blooms often dominate North Atlantic waters and impact fisheries, fish farming, and coastal tourism by producing odorous foams that accumulate on beaches during the collapse of a bloom. Dense blooms are detrimental to shell fish growth and reproduction, and are responsible for net-clogging, fish mortality, and alteration of fish taste. The success of Phaeocystis is a combination of life cycle stages, a range of colony sizes, and predator-activated defenses that reduces its mortality compared to competing phytoplankton. For these reasons Phaeocystis is an important organism to study the complexity of marine pelagic ecosystems. Molecular-level (e.g. gene expression) responses of P. globosa to ecological stresses and stimuli will be evaluated. Comparative analysis of expressed genes will begin to yield novel information about the biochemistry, physiology and ecology of this important species. Further, the genomic and gene-expression databases from this project will be a community resource and will support many projects on the ecology and evolution of this pivotal organism in marine ecosystems. Further, the PIs will create internships for students in underrepresented groups to train in genomics and bioinformatics.