OCE-PRF Track 1 (Broadening Participation): Cryptic Sulfonate Cycling between Marine Phytoplankton and Heterotrophic Bacterioplankton

以化学物质和能量形式存在的信息不断地通过复杂的海洋微生物网络流动。在海洋表面，阳光和大气中的二氧化碳被自养单细胞浮游植物捕获，并转化为大量的有机物质，微生物将其用作代谢货币和信号分子，形成不同贸易联盟的基础。最近，几种鲜为人知的磺酸盐化合物被确定为海洋细菌-浮游植物互惠共生的关键货币，似乎广泛存在于沿海社区。在这个项目中，该研究员将调查磺酸盐在海洋微生物相互作用中的普遍性和作用及其对地球生物地球化学的影响。赞助商Dr. E该研究员是华盛顿大学的弗吉尼亚·阿姆斯布鲁斯特教授，他将通过微生物生态学和海洋生物地球化学的跨学科培训，在专业上取得进步。扩大参与活动包括指导本科生和为当地少数民族高中制定外展计划，学生将使用微生物学和生物信息学概念进行课堂实验室练习。 磺酸盐分别由几种重要的浮游植物和异养细菌类群产生和降解。然而，这些化合物是海洋有机物库中人们知之甚少的组成部分。在一定程度上，磺酸盐占支持细菌和浮游植物之间的共生的碳和硫的不可量化的流量，磺酸盐代表在海洋中的碳和硫的转换神秘的缺失环节。在这项研究中，研究员将使用实验室为基础的方法来检查生理和生态控制的磺酸盐生产模式浮游植物物种和现场为基础的方法来检查分类驱动的动力学的磺酸盐池在普吉湾和周围的北太平洋沿海沃茨。具体而言，该研究员将对产生磺酸盐的模式浮游植物分类群进行代谢分析（目标一），并分别利用有针对性的原地代谢物调查（二）和稳定同位素培养（三）测量海洋环境中磺酸盐的时空梯度和周转率，以及基于转录组学的对控制磺酸盐衍生碳命运的海洋微生物的鉴定（四）。计划中的实验将提供环境中磺酸盐的第一个密集表征，包括它们对海洋有机物库的贡献、它们的分类驱动时空动态以及它们在海洋生态系统相互依存关系中的作用。

Information in the form of chemicals and energy flows constantly through complex networks of marine microbes. In the surface ocean, sunlight and atmospheric carbon dioxide are captured by autotrophic unicellular phytoplankton and transformed into a vast pool of organic matter that microbes use as metabolic currencies and signaling molecules to form the basis for different trading alliances. Several little-known sulfonate compounds have recently been identified as key currencies underlying marine bacterial-phytoplankton mutualisms and appear to be widespread in coastal communities. In this project, the fellow will investigate the prevalence and role of sulfonates in marine microbial interactions and their resulting impact on the Earth's biogeochemistry. With sponsor Dr. E. Virginia Armbrust at the University of Washington, the fellow will advance professionally through interdisciplinary training in microbial ecology and marine biogeochemistry. Broadening participation activities include mentorship of an undergraduate and development of an outreach program for a local minority-serving high school where students will conduct classroom laboratory exercises using microbiological and bioinformatics concepts. Sulfonates are produced and degraded by several important phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacterial taxa, respectively. Yet, these compounds represent a poorly understood component of the marine organic matter pool. To the extent that sulfonates account for an unquantified flux of carbon and sulfur that supports mutualisms between bacteria and phytoplankton, sulfonates represent cryptic missing links in both carbon and sulfur transformations in the ocean. In this study, the fellow will use laboratory-based approaches to examine physiological and ecological controls on sulfonate production in model phytoplankton species and field-based approaches to examine taxonomically driven dynamics of sulfonate pools in the coastal waters of Puget Sound and surrounding North Pacific. Specifically, the fellow will perform metabolic profiling of model sulfonate-producing phytoplankton taxa (Aim I) and measure spatiotemporal gradients and turnover rates of sulfonates in the ocean environment using targeted in situ metabolite surveys (II) and stable isotope incubations (III), respectively, together with transcriptomics-based identification of marine microbes that control the fate of sulfonate-derived carbon (IV). The planned experiments will provide the first intensive characterization of sulfonates in the environment in terms of their contribution to the marine organic matter pool, their taxonomically driven spatiotemporal dynamics, and their roles in ocean ecosystem interdependencies.