RAPID: DEBI-t: development of a Deep Exploration Biosphere Investigative Tool

了解地下生物圈中深层生命的分布是推进我们对地球上生命和生态系统演化的理解的一项重大挑战。到目前为止，为探测深层生物圈微生物生命而开发的所有方法都涉及对从钻孔中回收的材料进行异地分析。通过提取细胞或细胞成分，或将染料应用于样品并进行细胞计数，对材料进行微生物生物量分析。后一种方法是行业中最标准的方法，代表了在显微镜下用眼睛计数荧光细胞的非常耗时和费力的动手操作。目前的方法既费力又低效，既涉及细胞损失，又涉及可能对微生物生态产生影响的矿物学背景信息的损失。为了应对与检测和量化天然基质中的微生物生命相关的挑战，PI要求迅速获得资金，以开发一种新的现场井下测井工具，用于检测海底钻孔中的微生物生命。“深度紫外线”(DUV)是一种光学方法，能够在自然和不透明的表面上检测和成像单个细菌细胞，包括评估细菌密度和单个细胞在从厘米到微米的空间尺度上对生物膜的分布。DUV诱导和检测细胞或孢子固有的有机成分的自然荧光(DUV)，同时避免底物的自发荧光干扰，从而能够在数十厘米到微米的空间尺度上检测细菌-即微生物群落和单个细胞。Broader Impact该项目利用外部来源的35万美元。预计这项技术可广泛用作探测和测绘可能出现的任何地方的海底远程生命的工具，成为适用于以整个深海为代表的远洋环境的“卫星成像仪”。将支持具有微生物生理学和荧光光谱学专业知识的喷气推进实验室/加州理工学院博士后。

Understanding the distribution of deep life in the subsurface biosphere is a major challenge to advancing our understanding of the evolution life and ecosystems on Earth. To date, all methods developed to detect microbial life in the deep biosphere involve ex-situ analysis of recovered materials from boreholes. Materials are analyzed for microbial biomass by extracting cells or cellular components, or by application of dyes to samples and performing cell counts. This latter methodology being the most standard in the industry, and represents a very time and labor intensive hands-on by eye counting of fluorescent cells under a microscope. Current methods are highly laborious and inefficient processes that involve both cell loss and the loss of information about the mineralogical context that may have influence on the microbial ecology.To meet the challenges associated with detecting and quantifying microbial life within a natural matrix, The PI requests RAPID funding to develop a novel in-situ downhole logging tool for detecting microbial life in subseafloor boreholes. "Deep UV" (DUV) is an optical method that enables detection and imaging of single bacterial cells on natural and opaque surfaces, including assessment of bacterial density and distribution of single cells to biofilms over spatial scales ranging from centimeters to microns. DUV induces and detects native fluorescence (DUV) of organic components intrinsic to the cell or spore while avoiding autofluorescence interference from the substrate, enabling detection of bacteria at spatial scales ranging from tens of centimeters to micrometers - i.e., both communities of microbes and single cells.Broader Impacts This project Leverages $350K from outside sources. It is anticipated that this technology could become widely used as a tool for detection and mapping of subsurface remote life everywhere it may occur, becoming the "satellite imager" applicable to distal environments such as represented by the entire deep sea. A JPL/Caltech post-doc with expertise in microbial physiology and fluorescence spectroscopy will be supported.