MO: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A MICROBIAL OBSERVATORY EXAMINING MICROBIAL ABUNDANCE, DIVERSITY, ASSOCIATIONS AND ACTIVITY AT SEAFLOOR BRINE SEEPS

当墨西哥湾是一个蒸发盆地时，盐沉积下来，然后被埋在沉积物下面，盐的溶解导致了盐水的渗漏。当盐沉积物与海水接触时，它们会溶解，形成比海水咸许多倍的盐水。盐的迁移会在沉积物柱中形成断层，并促使盐水流体和物质从地下深处渗漏到海底。这些重盐水从海底流出，形成水坑、水池和盐水湖。盐水渗漏发生在大陆边缘，但令人惊讶的是，人们对其微生物群落的多样性和活动知之甚少。几十年到几百年的时间里，持续不断的流体和气体排放加剧了盐水的渗漏，因此很可能是不同的自由生活的微生物群落适应了这些栖息地。盐水渗漏的栖息地可能类似于其他星球上的盐水渗漏，就像人们认为木卫二、土卫六或火星上发生的那样。博士的实验室。乔治亚大学的萨曼莎·乔伊、德克萨斯大学的伊恩·麦克唐纳、北卡罗来纳大学的安德烈亚斯·特斯克以及来自德国和丹麦的同事将对墨西哥湾盐水渗漏中微生物的分布和活动进行表征，研究微生物群落与他们不寻常的环境之间的相互作用，并评估这些群落在盐水渗漏栖息地中的生物地球化学作用。他们将采用三管齐下的方法，包括现场采样、长期监测和实验，量化在盐水渗漏中介导碳和硫转化的微生物的丰度、多样性和活动，确定对这些微生物活动和分布的环境控制，利用稳定同位素生物标志物追踪微生物食物网中的碳和硫流动。DNA和RNA，并从这些盐水渗漏中分离和表征新的微生物。这个项目将包括各种各样的外联活动。这项研究将包括本科生、研究生和博士后科学家。美国、德国和丹麦合作伙伴之间的交流项目将允许美国研究生在德国不来梅或丹麦欧登塞生活和工作。通过与海洋科学教育卓越中心-东南项目的合作，一名初中或高中科学教师将参加研究巡航。科学老师将在其中一个PI工作？S实验室开发用于初中和/或高中的课程材料。在项目的第一年，pi将有研究巡航的互动网络广播，并将为科学界和公众提供一个项目网页。

Brine seeps are caused by the dissolution of salt that was deposited when the Gulf of Mexico was an evaporative basin and then buried beneath sediments. When salt deposits come into contact with seawater, they dissolve, and form brines many times saltier than seawater. Salt migration creates faults in the sediment column and drives seepage of brine fluids and materials from the deep subsurface to the seafloor. These heavy brines flow out of the seafloor forming puddles, pools, and lakes of brine. Brine seeps occur along continental margins, but surprisingly little is known about the diversity and activity of their microbial communities. Brine seeps are fueled by persistent fluid and gas discharge over periods of decades to centuries, thus it is likely that distinct free-living microbial communities have adapted to these habitats. Brine seep habitats may be analogs for brine seeps on other worlds as are thought to occur on Europa, Titan or Mars. The laboratories of Drs. Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia, Ian MacDonald of Texas A and M and Andreas Teske of the University of North Carolina and colleagues from Germany and Denmark will be characterizing the distribution and activity of the microbes in Gulf of Mexico brine seeps, examining the interactions of the microbial communities with their unusual environment, and evaluating the biogeochemical role of these communities in the brine seep habitats. They will be using a three-pronged approach that includes in-situ sampling, long-term monitoring, and experimentation to quantify the abundance, diversity and activity of microorganisms mediating carbon and sulfur transformations in brine seeps, to identify the environmental controls on these microbial activities and distributions, to trace carbon and sulfur flow through the microbial food web using stable isotope biomarkers, DNA and RNA and to isolate and characterize novel microorganisms from these brine seeps. This project will include a diverse portfolio of outreach activities. The research will include undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. An exchange program between US, German and Danish collaborators will permit US graduate students to live and work in Bremen, Germany or Odense, Denmark. A middle or high school science teacher will be participating in the research cruises through collaboration with the Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence-Southeast program. The science teacher will work in one of the PI?s laboratories to develop course materials for use in middle and/or high schools. The PIs will have interactive web casts of research cruises and a project web page will be available, by year one of the project, for the scientific community and for the general public.