OPUS: MCS Synthesis of longitudinal '-omics' research of microbial communities in Hudson River Valley freshwater streams

地表水的细菌污染是一个全国性的重要问题。我们迫切需要了解这种污染的来源和持久性，以保护我们国家的淡水资源。这项OPUS:MCS资助的目的是使多米尼加布劳夫特学院一位处于职业生涯中期的科学家能够对正在进行的这一主题的研究进行新的综合。这将通过与马萨诸塞州大学的一位同事合作来促进，以获得新的能力，以提高PI的研究生产力和教学水平。多年来，PI在多米尼加学院的本科生一直参与收集和表征哈德逊河流域各种溪流的微生物组样本，目的是确定有机污染源。该项目的目标是综合这些数据集，以更清楚地了解微生物分布模式，特别是与源头位置、当地天气和气候的关系。将分析其他数据集，以更好地了解选定地点的群落结构和功能的动态波动。在综合这些数据的同时，对学生进行计算基因组学方面的培训，将为他们进入STEM劳动力市场带来更多机会。这项工作的传播包括为关心他们自己社区的有兴趣的公民科学团体创建培训讲习班，以及通过公共数据库提供基因组数据。该项目将探索使用先进的方法来阐明哈德逊河流域小溪和溪流地表水中微生物群落的性质。来自下一代元基因组和转录组测序的数据将使研究人员能够检查这些河流的整体活力和稳定性，提供基线信息，通过这些信息可以测量与进一步污染和环境变化相关的影响。通过整合来自受污染的淡水小溪样本的社区分析和元组学数据，结果将为当地的水管理员和公民科学团体提供信息，因为他们记录了水质，并开发了更可靠的方法来定位污染源。来自Sparkill Creek的沉积物和水中微生物群落的基因组和表达数据将用于确定污染的性质和影响。这些分析有可能确定有关微生物污染的来源和汇的问题，并评估这种类型的比较分析在阐明看不见的问题中的效用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Bacterial contamination of surface waters is an important issue nationwide. There is a critical need to understand the source and persistence of this pollution to protect our Nation's freshwater resources. The purpose of this OPUS:MCS grant is to enable a new synthesis of ongoing research on this topic by a mid-career scientist at Dominican College of Blauvelt. This will be facilitated through partnership with a colleague at the University of Massachusetts to gain new capabilities to enhance the PI's research productivity and teaching repertoire. For a number of years, the PI's undergraduate students at Dominican College have been involved in collection and characterization of microbiome samples from various streams in the Hudson River watershed with the goal of identifying sources of organic pollution. The objective of this project is to synthesize these datasets to more clearly understand microbial distribution patterns, especially in relationship to headwater location, local weather and climate. Additional datasets will be analyzed to better understand dynamic fluctuations in community structure and function at selected sites. Training of students in computational genomics while synthesizing these data will garner them more opportunities when entering the STEM workforce. Dissemination of this work includes the creation of training workshops for interested citizen science groups concerned about their own communities, and making genomic data available via a public database. This project will explore the use of advanced methodologies to elucidate the nature of microbial communities in surface waters of creeks and streams in the Hudson River watershed. Data derived from next-generation meta-genomic and -transcriptomic sequencing will enable researchers to examine the overall vitality and stability of these streams, providing baseline information by which impacts related to further pollution and environmental change can be measured. By integrating community profiling and meta-'omics data of samples derived from a polluted freshwater creek, the results will inform local water keeper and citizen science groups as they document water quality and develop more reliable methods by which to locate contamination sources. Genomic and expression data derived from microbiome communities in sediment and water from Sparkill Creek will be used to determine the nature and impact of the contamination. These analyses have the potential to identify problems regarding sources and sinks of microbial pollution, and assess the utility of this type of comparative analysis in elucidating unseen problems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.