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

麻省理工学院(MIT)和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所(WHOI)的研究人员将测量类霍帕尼脂化合物，以评估它们作为海洋中发生的生物地球化学过程的示踪剂的效用。这些化合物是由一群细菌产生的，这些细菌是一类重要的生物，可以固定大气中的氮，从而使大量的海洋生物可以获得氮。研究人员将在从一系列现代海洋环境和实验室培养中收集的样本上测量这些化合物。这项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是在特定的化学或生物条件下产生的可能性。如果能够确定这种分子特异性，那么这些化合物在一段时间内保持追踪生物和化学进化信息的潜力。这项工作可能对海洋地质中的许多领域产生广泛影响，这在一定程度上是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-世界卫生组织联合计划中的研究生的支持，并将本科生参与研究。此外，这项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.