SGER: Giant Virus Regulation of Coccolithophorid Dynamics

SGER：巨病毒对球石藻动力学的调节

• 批准号: 0849363
• 负责人: William Wilson
• 金额: $ 6.95万
• 依托单位: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
• 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: 2008-09-15 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0849363&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Giant; Virus; Regulation; Coccolithophorid

With an average of 10-million viruses in a teaspoon of seawater, they are the most abundant biological particles in the ocean. The marine environment represents an almost infinite reservoir of unknown viruses with unknown functions. Perhaps surprisingly, their role is not to kill everything, but to act as vectors for gene transfer that drive evolutionary processes and to act as "catalysts" in marine biogeochemical cycling. This research focuses on a group of giant viruses (from the genus Coccolithoviridae) that infect the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi, a unicellular calcifying microalgae and a key species for current studies on global biogeochemical cycles, climate modeling and ocean acidification. The underlying hypothesis of this grant is that these giant algal viruses rapidly respond to changes in marine coccolithophore diversity and abundance as the ocean becomes more acidic. The investigator's hypothesis is that giant algal viruses will essentially maintain the necessary equilibrium to allow the phytoplankton community to function effectively during elevated levels of acidification. The research is coordinated with a research cruise along the Patagonian Shelf off Argentina, one of the world's largest, most productive, yet largely unexplored shelf regions. The aim of the cruise is to investigate ocean acidification as well as other key biogeochemical parameters that influence phytoplankton bloom dynamics. Virus activity will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping these ecosystems. Using dilution studies, isolation studies, flow cytometry, quantitative and qualitative molecular approaches, including metagenomics, the investigator will assess how virus-host interactions can react and adapt to ocean acidification. Parallel data collected on the cruise will prove an incredibly valuable resource for correlation with the molecular ecological and eventual metagenomic data (for which samples will only be collected, not analyzed) and should provide quantitative insights into the role of viruses in the Patagonian Shelf region. Broader Impacts of this study will derive mainly from interactions between the scientists directly involved in the research and students/general public. For example, research outlined in this proposal will be discussed during an informal "Café Scientifique" program designed to teach the general public about the latest ideas in science. In addition, the investigator has developed individual programs for teaching K-12 students the structure of viruses that are targeted to the different education levels. A post doc is also supported by the project.

一茶匙海水中平均有1000万个病毒，它们是海洋中最丰富的生物颗粒。海洋环境是一个几乎无限的具有未知功能的未知病毒库。也许令人惊讶的是，它们的作用不是杀死一切，而是作为基因转移的载体，推动进化过程，并在海洋生物地球化学循环中充当“催化剂”。这项研究的重点是一组巨大的病毒（来自球石病毒科），感染球石藻Emiliania huxleyi，一种单细胞钙化微藻，是目前全球地球化学循环，气候模拟和海洋酸化研究的关键物种。这项资助的基本假设是，随着海洋变得更加酸性，这些巨型藻类病毒对海洋颗石藻多样性和丰度的变化迅速做出反应。研究人员的假设是，巨型藻类病毒将基本上保持必要的平衡，使浮游植物群落在酸化水平升高期间有效地发挥作用。 这项研究与沿阿根廷外巴塔哥尼亚大陆架沿着的研究巡航相协调，巴塔哥尼亚大陆架是世界上最大、最多产但基本上未开发的大陆架区域之一。这次航行的目的是调查海洋酸化以及影响浮游植物水华动态的其他关键生物地球化学参数。病毒活动无疑将在塑造这些生态系统方面发挥关键作用。使用稀释研究，分离研究，流式细胞术，定量和定性分子方法，包括宏基因组学，研究人员将评估病毒-宿主相互作用如何反应和适应海洋酸化。在巡航中收集的平行数据将证明是一个非常有价值的资源，用于与分子生态学和最终的宏基因组数据（仅收集样本，而不是分析）相关，并应提供定量见解病毒在巴塔哥尼亚大陆架地区的作用。这项研究的更广泛影响将主要来自直接参与研究的科学家和学生/公众之间的互动。例如，这项提案中概述的研究将在一个非正式的“科学咖啡馆”项目中讨论，该项目旨在向公众传授科学方面的最新思想。此外，研究人员还开发了针对不同教育水平的K-12学生的病毒结构教学计划。 一个博士后也得到了该项目的支持。