Ocean Acidification: A Systems Biology Approach to Characterize Diatom Response to Ocean Acidification and Climate Change

硅藻约占世界海洋初级产量的40%，是产量最高的海洋浮游植物群。它们构成了沿海和海洋上升流地区食物网的基础，支撑着重要的渔业，并在全球碳和硅循环中发挥着重要作用。该项目的目标是了解海洋酸化与其他压力因素对海洋硅藻的影响。该项目将生成该硅藻所有基因表达的预测模型，该模型可用于预测硅藻对酸化海洋预测环境情景的反应。将采用实验室和实地研究相结合的方法；硅藻将在二氧化碳浓度下生长，该浓度反映了今天的值以及未来的预测条件，光照水平和营养物质浓度也将发生变化。生理和基因表达反应将通过计算和建模方法进行测量和整合，以获得对硅藻对海洋酸化反应的公正的系统级理解。这种结合的方法将能够预测和预测硅藻对环境变化的反应，以及对自然环境中生物化学相关过程的阐明和基因组解释。更广泛的影响：本研究的结果和预测模型可以与环境模型相结合，以预测硅藻在不断变化的海洋中的作用和行为。除了培养一名博士后和一名研究生外，该项目还将招收3名高中教师及其学生。研究人员将继续开发教育工具，以提高K-12学生对全球碳循环的理解，这一代人将越来越多地受到包括海洋酸化在内的环境变化的影响。

Diatoms account for approximately 40 percent of primary production in the world's oceans and are the most productive marine phytoplankton group. They form the basis of food webs in coastal and ocean upwelling areas that support important fisheries and have a major role in global carbon and silicon cycles. The goal of this project is to understand the impact of ocean acidification, in combination with other stressors, on the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. This project will generate a predictive model of expression of all genes of this diatom that can be used to forecast the diatom's response to projected environmental scenarios to an acidifying ocean. A combination of laboratory and field studies will be used; diatoms will be grown under carbon dioxide concentrations that reflect today's values as well as future predicted conditions and light levels and nutrients concentrations will also be varied. Physiological and gene expression responses will be measured and integrated using computational and modeling methods to gain an unbiased, systems-level understanding of the response of diatoms to ocean acidification. This combined approach will enable the forecasting and prediction of the diatom's response to environmental change and the elucidation and genomic interpretation of biochemically relevant processes in natural environment. Broader impacts: Results and the predictive model from this study can be coupled with environmental models to forecast the role and behavior of diatoms in the changing seas. In addition to the multidisciplinary training of a post-doctoral fellow and a graduate student this project will engage 3 high school teachers and their students. The investigators will continue to develop educational tools to increase the understanding of global carbon cycles by K-12 students, a generation that will be increasingly affected by the environmental changes that include ocean acidification.