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在复杂的海洋微生物网络中不断流动。在海洋表层，阳光和大气中的二氧化碳被自养的单细胞浮游植物捕获，并转化为一个巨大的有机物质池，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。几种鲜为人知的磺酸化合物最近被确定为海洋细菌-浮游植物共生的关键货币，似乎在沿海社区广泛存在。在这个项目中，研究员将调查磺酸盐在海洋微生物相互作用中的普遍程度和作用，以及它们对地球生物地球化学的影响。在华盛顿大学E. Virginia Armbrust博士的资助下，该研究员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。扩大参与的活动包括为一名本科生提供指导，并为当地一所少数民族高中制定外展计划，学生将利用微生物学和生物信息学概念进行课堂实验练习。几种重要的浮游植物和异养细菌分类群分别产生和降解磺酸盐。然而，这些化合物代表了海洋有机质库中一个鲜为人知的组成部分。在某种程度上，磺酸盐解释了支持细菌和浮游植物之间相互作用的无法量化的碳和硫通量，磺酸盐代表了海洋中碳和硫转化的神秘缺失环节。在这项研究中，该研究员将使用基于实验室的方法来检查模拟浮游植物物种中硫酸盐生产的生理和生态控制，并使用基于现场的方法来检查普吉特海湾及周边北太平洋沿海水域中硫酸盐池的分类驱动动态。具体而言，该研究员将对模型产生磺酸的浮游植物分类群（Aim I）进行代谢分析，并分别使用有针对性的原位代谢物调查（II）和稳定同位素孵育（III）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控制磺酸衍生碳命运的海洋微生物鉴定（IV）。计划中的实验将首次提供环境中磺酸盐对海洋有机质库的贡献、它们的分类学驱动的时空动态以及它们在海洋生态系统相互依赖中的作用等方面的深入表征。

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.