CAREER: Linking Microbial Phylogenetic and Functional Gene Diversity to Microbial Mat Ecosystem Function Following Environmental Disturbance

职业：将微生物系统发育和功能基因多样性与环境干扰后微生物垫生态系统功能联系起来

• 批准号: 1149447
• 负责人: Robert Norman
• 金额: $ 72.5万
• 依托单位: University South Carolina Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1149447&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Linking; Microbial; Phylogenetic; Functional

Ecosystems are extremely complex entities generated and maintained through the interactions of numerous abiotic and biotic factors. While many ecosystems have been characterized based on overall ecosystem function, the role of microorganisms is often overlooked or oversimplified due to technical and conceptual challenges. This oversimplification has resulted in ecological models that do not accurately account for the impacts of biodiversity on ecosystem function during periods of environmental change. Given that the global microbiome is the largest biological reservoir on Earth and forms the foundation of all ecosystems, it is critically important to better understand how environmental factors trigger changes in microbial community structure and function and how these changes impact overall ecosystem function. To address this knowledge gap, this project will utilize technological developments in high throughput metagenomic and metatranscriptomic DNA sequencing to examine microbes in a lagoon ecosystem over temporal scales following environmental perturbations. The objectives of this study are to understand the environmental cues that trigger taxonomic shifts (e.g. from rare to dominant), to examine the functional redundancy within rare and abundant taxa, and to explore the link between community gene expression and taxon-level traits and overall ecosystem function. Results from this study will help refine ecosystem models by defining the links between microbial taxonomic and functional gene diversity, environmental factors, and rates of ecosystem processes. Furthermore, by understanding the role of microbial diversity in the resilience of microbial mat communities in the lagoons, results from the proposed studies may have a transformative impact on ecosystem science and evolutionary biology. As a means of integrating cutting edge science into education, a strong university, community, and international-level outreach program will be developed to: (1) enhance graduate education by developing a new molecular microbial ecology course; (2) enhance undergraduate, graduate, and postdoc laboratory and field experiences; (3) provide local high school students and teachers with lab and field-based experiences by the expansion of a previous NSF-supported Young Genomic Scientists Program; (4) enhance environmental awareness of the general public by generating a microbial mat exhibit to be displayed at the nationally-renowned EdVenture Children?s Museum (200,000 visitors per year); and (5) enhance ecosystem awareness of Bahamian children and science teachers.

生态系统是通过多种非生物和生物因素的相互作用产生和维护的极其复杂的实体。尽管许多生态系统的表征是根据整体生态系统功能来表征的，但由于技术和概念挑战，微生物的作用经常被忽视或过于简化。这种过度简化导致生态模型无法准确地说明生物多样性对环境变化期间生态系统功能的影响。鉴于全球微生物组是地球上最大的生物储层，并构成了所有生态系统的基础，因此更好地了解环境因素如何触发微生物群落结构和功能的变化以及这些变化如何影响整体生态系统功能至关重要。为了解决这一知识差距，该项目将利用高通量元基因组和元文字DNA测序中的技术发展，以检查环境扰动后时间尺度上的泻湖生态系统中的微生物。这项研究的目标是了解触发分类转移的环境线索（例如从罕见到占主导地位），以检查稀有和丰富的分类单元中的功能冗余，并探索社区基因表达与分类群级特征与整体生态系统功能之间的联系。这项研究的结果将通过定义微生物分类学和功能基因多样性，环境因素和生态系统过程速率之间的联系来帮助完善生态系统模型。此外，通过了解微生物多样性在泻湖中微生物垫的弹性中的作用，拟议研究的结果可能会对生态系统科学和进化生物学产生变革性的影响。为了将尖端科学融入教育的一种手段，将开发出强大的大学，社区和国际范围的外展计划：（1）通过开发新的分子微生物生态学课程来增强研究生教育； （2）增强本科，研究生，博士后实验室和现场经验； （3）通过扩展以前的NSF支持的年轻基因组科学家计划，为当地的高中生和老师提供了实验室和基于现场的经验； （4）通过产生一个微生物垫展览来提高公众的环境意识，该展览会在全国知名的Edventure儿童博物馆（每年20万游客）展出； （5）增强巴哈马儿童和科学老师的生态系统意识。