Collaborative Research: Cyanate availability and utilization by marine microbial assemblages

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Researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole and from Old Dominion University will continue to develop a HPLC method for the measurement of cyante in seawater and will use this to demonstrate that cynate is present at measureable and environmentally relevant concentrations in natural water samples. It is hypothsized that cyanate could be an important source of nitrogen (N) to microbes and potentially also a source of carbon, for both phototrophic and heterotrophic organisms. Once the method is developed and tested the investigators will perform experiments in the laboratory primarily to examine the importance of cyante as a N source to microbes, and to demonstrate that cyanate itself rather than a breakdown product is assimialted and incorporated into cellular material. The studies will also involve coastal sampling focusing on Synechococcus and the identification of the organisms that assimilate cyanate, and examine the expression of the related genes. These preliminary studies will provide the foundation for more detailed future studies. This study will contribute to an improved understanding of the importance of small molecular weight organic N compounds as a source of N for organism growth and will build on other studies examining the importance of organic N compunds in the marine environment. The project will be part of the studies of a graduate student and fund other researchers and the investigators will incorporate their findings into current outreach efforts at all levels.