RUI: Collaborative Research: Quantifying the role of microbial extracellular vesicles in marine dissolved organic matter production and consumption

RUI：合作研究：量化微生物细胞外囊泡在海洋溶解有机物生产和消耗中的作用

• 批准号: 2049004
• 负责人: Steven Biller
• 金额: $ 56.06万
• 依托单位: Wellesley College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049004&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Collaborative; Research; Quantifying; role

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Microbial production and consumption of organic carbon play critical roles in the marine food web and global carbon cycling. Bacteria release organic matter in a variety of chemical forms and in diverse contexts, ranging from individual molecules to small aggregates and larger biological particles. In recent years we have come to understand that most, if not all, marine microbes release nanoscale structures called extracellular vesicles from their surfaces. These discrete particles, which are abundant in the oceans, are capable of transporting multiple classes of organic molecules between organisms and can serve as a potential nutrient source for other microbes. Extracellular vesicles thus represent a potentially important component of marine microbial food webs, but the magnitude and dynamics of this contribution are unknown. Further, the packaging of material within vesicles may influence the accessibility of this organic material as compared with truly ‘dissolved’ substances to different groups of marine organisms, potentially biasing nutrient exchanges. Broader impacts of this work is providing hands-on research experiences for female undergraduate students - including those from groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields - and training in data analysis tools.The goal of this project is to advance the understanding of the role that extracellular vesicles play in marine dissolved organic carbon pools and microbial food webs. To determine the contribution of vesicles to organic matter release by marine microbes, the investigators are quantifying the fraction of excreted carbon and nitrogen associated with vesicles released by multiple marine cyanobacteria and heterotrophs. The project is examining how vesicles are ‘consumed’ by heterotrophs to calculate a mass balance of vesicle utilization and produce detailed gene expression data to explore how cells respond to the presence of vesicles. Finally, experiments with coastal and oligotrophic marine communities are providing insights into which organisms utilize vesicles in the field, and whether they are broadly accessible to all microbes or are instead preferentially consumed by a subset of microbes. Collectively, these experiments are opening up a new area of research into the mechanisms underlying the microbial loop and provide foundational insights into the roles of extracellular vesicles in ocean ecosystems.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.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》的全部或部分资助的（公共法117-2）。有机碳的生产和消费在海洋食品网和全球碳循环中起关键作用。细菌以各种化学形式和潜水员的情况释放有机物，从单个分子到小骨料和较大的生物颗粒。近年来，我们已经了解到，大多数（即使不是全部）海洋微生物释放了纳米级结构，称为细胞外蔬菜的表面。这些在海洋中丰富的离散颗粒能够在生物体之间运输多种有机分子，并且可以作为其他微生物的潜在营养来源。因此，细胞外蔬菜代表了海洋微生物食物网的潜在重要组成部分，但是这种贡献的大小和动力学尚不清楚。此外，与真正的“溶解”物质相比，蔬菜中材料的包装可能会影响这种有机材料的可及性，而这些物质可能会影响不同的海洋生物群体，这可能会偏向营养的交换。这项工作的更广泛的影响是为女性本科生提供动手研究经验 - 包括在STEM领域历史上人为不足的团体和数据分析工具的培训。该项目的目的是促进对细胞外蔬菜在海洋溶解有机碳池中扮演的作用的了解。为了确定蔬菜对海洋微生物释放有机物的贡献，研究人员正在量化与多个海洋氰基菌和异性营养释放的蔬菜相关的极碳和氮的比例。该项目正在研究如何通过异育量“消耗”蔬菜来计算囊泡利用的质量平衡，并产生了详细的基因表达数据，以探索细胞对蔬菜存在的反应。最后，对沿海和贫营养海洋群落的实验正在提供有关生物在野外利用蔬菜的见解，以及它们是所有微生物都可以广泛使用还是通过微生物的子集优先消费。总的来说，这些实验正在为微生物循环的基础机制开辟了一个新的研究领域，并为细胞外蔬菜在海洋生态系统中的作用提供了基本见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。