Collaborative research: A systems biology approach of diatom response to ocean acidification and climate change

系统生物学的进步为理解不同组织尺度的碳循环和碳固存研究提供了新的方法，将单细胞与生态系统联系起来，具有广泛的影响。系统生物学是一门强大的、整体的、假设驱动的、定量的、综合的和迭代的学科，它通过利用基因组和计算工具来全面理解模式生物，这些工具提供了将基因表达、表型和环境联系起来的能力。在系统方法中，细胞作为一个整体来研究，以解释分子（DNA， RNA，蛋白质和代谢物）全谱的总体反应和动态变化，以及它们之间的关系（生物网络）。假单胞藻基因组的发表，使人们对海洋酸化和气候变化对硅藻初级生产的调控有了普遍的分析和理解。对硅藻固定碳调节机制的全球理解现在是可能的。该项目将侧重于利用系统方法在分子和细胞水平上描述硅藻对海洋酸化和气候变化的反应，这对了解海洋“生物泵”的未来至关重要。这个项目更广泛的目标是了解硅藻在生物地球化学水平上对碳循环的贡献。这个项目将生成一个硅藻T. pseudonana中所有基因的全球表达模型，并使我们能够预测更高的二氧化碳和温度，更低的pH值将如何影响硅藻在海洋中固碳的能力。该项目的更广泛影响包括应对气候变化和海洋酸化等全球社会挑战。由于硅藻是支持重要渔业的食物网的基础，这些干扰将对海洋生态系统、碳固存和世界粮食供应产生直接影响，从而间接影响世界的社会经济格局。本研究结果将对地球化学家、生物地球化学家、生物海洋学家和古科学家具有潜在的应用价值。该项目将促进来自不同机构的科学家之间的合作，并有助于培养两名博士后和四名本科生。系统生物学在海洋科学中尚处于起步阶段，对这一跨学科领域的科学家进行培训将促进其发展。这笔拨款还将开发教育工具（一套教室工具包），以帮助K-12学生了解碳循环，K-12是将受到21世纪环境条件影响的未来科学家群体。

Advances in systems biology enable new approaches to understand the carbon cycle and carbon sequestration research across different scales of organization, linking single cells to ecosystems, with broad impacts. Systems biology is a robust, holistic, hypothesis-driven, quantitative, integrative and iterative discipline that enables comprehensive understanding of model organisms by utilizing genomic and computational tools that provide the power for linking gene expression, phenotype, and the environment. In a systems approach, cells are studied as an integrated whole to explain the overall response and dynamic change in the full spectrum of molecules (DNA, RNA proteins and metabolites), and their relationships (biological networks). The publication of the genome of T. pseudonana allows a universal analysis and understanding of the regulation of primary production of diatoms in response to ocean acidification and climate change. Global understanding of the mechanisms of regulation of carbon fixation by diatoms is now possible. This project will focus on characterizing - at molecular and cellular levels using a systems approach - the response of diatoms to ocean acidification and climate change, essential to understanding the future of the ocean's "biological pump". The broader goal of this project is to understand the contribution by diatoms to carbon cycling at a biogeochemical level. This project will generate a model of the global expression of all genes in the diatom T. pseudonana and will enable us to anticipate how higher CO2 and temperatures, lower pH will affect the ability of diatoms to sequester carbon in the oceans.The broader impacts of this project include addressing global challenges to society such as climate change and ocean acidification. Because diatoms are at the basis of food webs that support important fisheries, these disturbances will have a direct effect on marine ecosystems, carbon sequestration, and the world's food supply, thus indirectly influencing the world's socioeconomic landscape. The results from this study will have potential applications for geochemists, biogeochemists, biological oceanographers and paleo-scientists. This project will foster collaboration between scientists from different institutions and contribute to the training of two postdoctoral associates and four undergraduates students. Systems biology is in its infancy in marine sciences and training of scientists in this cross-disciplinary area will spur development. This grant will also develop educational tools (a classroom kit) for the understanding of carbon cycling for K-12, the population of future scientists that will be afflicted by the 21st century environmental conditions.