RAPID: The Microbial Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

RAPID：微生物对深水地平线漏油事件的反应

• 批准号: 1045115
• 负责人: Andreas Teske
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1045115&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Microbial; Response; Deepwater; Horizon

Intellectual merit: This RAPID project will conduct a time series of microbiological and geochemical assessments of the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill offshore the Louisiana coast. The PIs are building on a large database of pre-spill baseline microbiology and biogeochemistry at a microbial observatory (Mississippi Canyon 118) near the Deepwater Horizon site they have occupied since 2005. They are applying molecular, gene-based analyses of the microbial community structure and function in surface water and underlying sediments; in situ water column dissolved oxygen and light hydrocarbon measurements using advanced sensor technologies (Seaguard system) for deep water plume tracking; and a biogeochemical survey of the sediments and water in the immediate vicinity of and at increasing distance from the oil spill, and on different time scales during follow-up cruises. 16S rRNA and functional gene sequencing of total microbial DNA and RNA from contaminated and clean water and sediments will monitor how the oil-affected microbial community changes in composition and activity. High-throughput pyrosequencing of PCR-amplified rRNA fragments will increase the coverage by approx. three orders of magnitude, and allow for the detection of minority microbial populations that go unnoticed in conventional clone libraries. Special attention will be paid to the enrichment of oil-degrading bacteria in natural samples and in time-series experiments conducted in the lab, to monitor their growth with group-specific PCR, to monitor geochemical changes concomitant with the establishment and enrichment of a hydrocarbon-degrading microbial community, and to identify potential carbon incorporation pathways with stable isotope probing of nucleic acids. Summarizing, this RAPID project focuses on molecular and microbiological assessments of hydrocarbon impact, across the spatial and time scales of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as determined by diagnostic water column oxygen and light hydrocarbon measurements. The water column microbiological and dissolved gas data will be linked to potential impacts on the bacterial activity in bottom sediments through measurements of geochemical indicators of sedimentary anaerobic microbial activity, and porewater analyses of DIC, CH4 and low-molecular weight organic acids, the principal products of hydrocarbon degradation. The PIs are coordinating their research with Mandy Joye at the University of Georgia.Broader Impacts: The results of this RAPID project will identify which bacterial and archaeal populations, and in which sequence, respond to oil spill events in marine sediments and the water column, and the attendant - often beneficial - biogeochemical consequences of this massive restructuring of the microbial community and their activities. Most importantly, this project provides comprehensive microbial and geochemical coverage of different marine habitats (deep and shallow marine sediments, water column, surface) on the geographical and time scale of the oil spill as it is unfolding. This independent analysis will contribute to an observation-based and results-oriented reference database that, at present, the various interested players in the Deepwater Horizon saga cannot provide. The PIs are working on national publicity for our cruises and on-site work, by taking a National Geographic writer (Joel Bourne) on the current RV Walton Smith cruise, and interviews with Scientific American and National Geographic. The PIs have developed an extensive student-oriented outreach component that entrains - with a combination of teaching, lab internships, conference visits and virtual as well as real cruise exposure - undergraduates from different backgrounds into grant-driven research and gives them an early start on substantial, publishable research projects. The Martens lab has been active since 2005 in partnering NSF-funded research projects with science education and outreach programs that can influence and attract the next generation of oceanographers.

智力价值：该 RAPID 项目将对路易斯安那州海岸近海深水地平线漏油事件的后果进行一系列微生物和地球化学评估。 PI 正在建立自 2005 年以来位于深水地平线附近的微生物观测站（密西西比峡谷 118）的泄漏前基线微生物学和生物地球化学大型数据库。他们正在对地表水和底层沉积物中的微生物群落结构和功能进行分子、基于基因的分析；使用先进的传感器技术（Seaguard 系统）进行深水羽流跟踪的原位水柱溶解氧和轻烃测量；对漏油事件附近和距漏油事件越来越远的地方的沉积物和水进行生物地球化学调查，并在后续巡航期间在不同的时间尺度上进行调查。对受污染和清洁的水和沉积物中的总微生物 DNA 和 RNA 进行 16S rRNA 和功能基因测序，将监测受石油影响的微生物群落的组成和活性如何变化。 PCR 扩增的 rRNA 片段的高通量焦磷酸测序将使覆盖范围增加约 10%。三个数量级，并允许检测传统克隆文库中未被注意到的少数微生物种群。将特别关注天然样品和实验室时间序列实验中石油降解细菌的富集，通过群体特异性PCR监测其生长，监测碳氢化合物降解微生物群落建立和富集伴随的地球化学变化，并通过核酸的稳定同位素探测确定潜在的碳掺入途径。总而言之，该 RAPID 项目侧重于通过诊断水柱氧气和轻烃测量确定的深水地平线石油泄漏的空间和时间尺度上碳氢化合物影响的分子和微生物评估。通过测量沉积物厌氧微生物活动的地球化学指标，以及对碳氢化合物降解的主要产物 DIC、CH4 和低分子量有机酸进行孔隙水分析，水柱微生物和溶解气体数据将与对底部沉积物细菌活动的潜在影响联系起来。 PI 正在与佐治亚大学的 Mandy Joye 协调他们的研究。 更广泛的影响：该 RAPID 项目的结果将确定哪些细菌和古菌种群以及以何种顺序对海洋沉积物和水体中的漏油事件做出反应，以及微生物群落及其活动的大规模重组所带来的通常是有益的生物地球化学后果。最重要的是，该项目在漏油事件发生的地理和时间尺度上提供了不同海洋栖息地（深海和浅海沉积物、水柱、地表）的全面微生物和地球化学覆盖。这项独立分析将有助于建立一个基于观察和结果导向的参考数据库，而目前深水地平线传奇中的各个感兴趣的参与者无法提供该数据库。 PI 正在为我们的巡游和现场工作进行全国宣传，他们将国家地理作家 (Joel Bourne) 带到当前的 RV Walton Smith 巡游中，并接受《科学美国人》和《国家地理》的采访。 PI 开发了广泛的以学生为导向的外展活动，通过教学、实验室实习、会议参观以及虚拟和真实的邮轮体验相结合，吸引来自不同背景的本科生参与资助驱动的研究，并让他们尽早开始实质性的、可发表的研究项目。自 2005 年以来，Martens 实验室一直积极将 NSF 资助的研究项目与科学教育和外展计划合作，以影响和吸引下一代海洋学家。