Collaborative Research: Using thermocouple arrays to investigate temporal and spatial microbial colonization in actively forming hydrothermal vent deposits

合作研究：使用热电偶阵列研究活跃形成的热液喷口沉积物中微生物的时空定植

• 批准号: 0751839
• 负责人: Margaret Tivey
• 金额: $ 17.11万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-10-01 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0751839&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Using; thermocouple; arrays

At mid-ocean ridges and back-arc basins, deep-sea hydrothermal vent deposits are recognized as important biogeochemical environments in which temperatures vary from ~2ºC to 400ºC across distances of a few centimeters. The deposits provide microhabitats for a diversity of Bacteria and Archaea that are supported by chemical gradients that result when vent fluids from the seafloor and mix with seawater. While many studies have looked for evidence of microorganisms within vent deposits, fewer have been done to discern which microorganisms are present within newly formed material, and to examine the extent to which the observed diversity in more mature deposits is a result of the steep chemical and thermal gradients, a result of community succession, or a combination of both. In this project the investigators will address this important area of research by using deployments of thermocouple arrays in Guaymas Basin. Experiments in place will be retrieved and samples recovered from around each thermocouple, and analyzed along strong thermal and chemical gradients. The investigators will use molecular techniques such as Q-PCR of 16S rRNA genes to provide a snapshot of the relative shifts (succession) in abundance of Archaea and Bacteria. The importance of certain physiologies (such as sulfate reduction, dsrB, and methanogenesis, mcrA) will be correlated to the observed temporal changes in microbial diversity. These analyses will allow the investigators to test whether there are any temporal or spatial differences in microbial colonization of the hydrothermal deposits. Furthermore thay will be able to show whether or not differences in patterns of microbial colonization exist between different vent fields. An added strength of this project is its design as a complement to an already funded project which is looking at the distribution of acidophiles in vent deposits and the influence of local mineralogy or geochemistry. The new information from this project will be included in the investigators ongoing outreach where they continue to share the excitement of new deep-sea vent discoveries with the public through writing general articles, giving lectures at schools, and through continuing education for school teachers.

在大洋中脊和弧后盆地，深海热液喷口矿床被认为是重要的地球化学环境，在这些区域，几厘米距离内的温度变化范围为~2ºC至400ºC。这些沉积物为各种细菌和微生物提供了微生境，这些微生境受到海底排出的流体与海水混合时产生的化学梯度的支持。虽然许多研究都在寻找喷口沉积物中存在微生物的证据，但很少有人去辨别新形成的物质中存在哪些微生物，也很少有人去研究在较成熟的沉积物中观察到的多样性在多大程度上是化学和热梯度急剧变化的结果，是群落演替的结果，还是两者兼而有之。在本项目中，研究人员将通过在瓜伊马斯盆地部署热电偶阵列来解决这一重要的研究领域。将取回原位实验，并从每个热电偶周围回收样品，并沿沿着强热梯度和化学梯度进行分析。研究人员将使用分子技术，如16 S rRNA基因的Q-PCR，以提供一个快照的相对变化（连续）丰富的细菌和细菌。某些生理学（如硫酸盐还原，dsrB和甲烷生成，mcrA）的重要性将与观察到的微生物多样性的时间变化。这些分析将使调查人员能够测试热液矿床的微生物定植是否存在任何时间或空间差异。此外，还将能够显示不同喷口区之间微生物定植模式是否存在差异。 该项目的另一个优点是，它的设计是对一个已获资助的项目的补充，该项目正在研究喷口沉积物中嗜酸菌的分布以及当地矿物学或地球化学的影响。该项目的新信息将纳入调查人员正在进行的外联活动，他们将继续通过撰写一般性文章、在学校讲课和对学校教师进行继续教育，与公众分享新发现深海喷口的兴奋之情。