EAR-PF: Quantifying the Geochemical-Microbial Connection Using Thermodynamics and Environmental Data

杰弗里·迪克博士被授予美国国家科学基金会地球科学博士后奖学金，在亚利桑那州立大学开展研究和教育项目。这项调查将利用热力学框架，探索黄石国家公园温泉中支持微生物群落的物理化学因素。环境基因组学数据将与地球化学测量相结合，包括温度、氧化还原电位和元素浓度，首次预测该系统中蛋白质的相对丰度以及微生物种群的多样性。将环境基因组学和地球化学数据放在同一个热力学推导的参考框架中，对于对地球生物系统对环境梯度的响应进行严格的理论分析至关重要。它还可以帮助解释大量环境数据和推断基因组关系上可能的地球化学印记的日益增长的挑战。该方法将汇集生物地球化学和环境基因组学的见解，以确定参与碳、氮和其他元素循环的酶的氨基酸组成。该项目的预期结果是开发计算模型的软件实现，然后可以对其进行修改，以研究其他极端环境中不同代谢途径的地球化学极限。该研究员将参与外展和教育活动，为亚利桑那州立大学每年的地球和空间科学日开发一个互动演示，并协助教师和本科生在一个高级小组项目中构思和执行一项地球生物学探索任务。

Dr. Jeffrey Dick is awarded an NSF Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Arizona State University. The investigation will explore, using a thermodynamic framework, the physical-chemical factors that support communities of microbes in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park. Environmental genomics data will be coupled with geochemical measurements including temperature, oxidation-reduction potential and elemental concentrations to predict for the first time the relative abundances of proteins as well as the diversity of the microbial populations in this system. Placing the environmental genomic and geochemical data into the same thermodynamically derived frame of reference is crucial to a rigorous theoretical analysis of the geobiological system responses to environmental gradients. It can also aid in the growing challenge of interpreting large amounts of environmental data and in deducing possible geochemical imprints on the genomic relationships. The approach will bring together insights from biogeochemistry and environmental genomics to identify the amino acid compositions of enzymes that are involved in the cycles of carbon, nitrogen and other elements.An expected outcome of this project is the development of a software implementation of the computational models that can then be modified to investigate the geochemical limits of different metabolic pathways in other extreme environments. The fellow will engage in outreach and educational activities by developing an interactive presentation for the annual Earth and Space Science Day at Arizona State University and by assisting faculty and undergraduate students in a senior group project to conceive and carry out a mission of geobiological exploration.