ETBC: Cyanobacterial hopanoids: Function, Natural Distribution and Significance in the Marine Geologic Record

马萨诸塞州理工学院（MIT）和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所（WHOI）的研究人员将测量类Hopanoid脂质化合物，以评估它们作为海洋地球化学过程示踪剂的效用。 这些化合物是由一组细菌产生的，这些细菌是一类重要的生物体，可以固定大气中的氮，从而使氮可供各种海洋生物使用。 研究人员将在从一系列现代海洋环境以及实验室培养物中收集的样本上测量这些化合物。 该研究的重点是一对假设和四个相邻的问题，旨在解决这种化合物类别中的某些化合物在特定化学或生物条件下产生的可能性。 如果这种分子特异性可以被识别，那么这些化合物就保持了追踪生物和化学进化信息的潜力。 这项工作对海洋地质学许多领域产生广泛影响的潜力部分得到了实现，因为这些化合物似乎在整个地质记录中广泛存在。 这项研究的更广泛的影响将包括对麻省理工学院-WHOI联合项目内的研究生的支持，并将使本科生参与研究。 此外，研究将促进和加强两个机构之间的关系。

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) will measure hopanoid lipid compounds to evaluate their utility as tracers of biogeochemical processes occurring in the ocean. These compounds are created by a group of bacteria that are an important class of organisms that fix atmospheric nitrogen, thus making nitrogen available to a wide array of marine organisms. The researchers will measure these compounds on samples collected from a range of modern marine environments as well as in laboratory cultures. The research is focused on a pair of hypotheses and four adjoining questions that are aimed at addressing the possibility that certain compounds within this compound class are produced under specific chemical or biological conditions. If such molecular specificity can be identified then these compounds maintain the potential to trace biological and chemical evolutionary information through the course of time. The potential for this work to broadly impact a number of fields in marine geology is partly realized because these compounds appear to occur widely throughout the geologic record. The broader impacts of this research will include support for a graduate student within the MIT-WHOI Joint Program and will involve undergraduate students in the research. In addition the research will foster and strengthen relationships between the two institutions.