EAGER: Colonization at the Fringe of Habitability

渴望：在宜居性边缘的殖民

• 批准号: 2305593
• 负责人: Brian Hynek
• 金额: $ 1.96万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305593&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Colonization; Fringe; Habitability

This project focuses on microbial colonization and survival within one of the newest and most hostile lakes on the planet: Laguna Caliente in the active Poás volcano in Costa Rica. The creation of nascent, sterile, aquatic environments on Earth are exceedingly rare; thus, this research is a novel approach in studying how microbial life can colonize and evolve in a new lake. The project increases our understanding of habitability on early Earth and Mars, which experienced equally harsh hydro-volcanic settings with repeated sterilization events. This extreme aquatic environment on top of an active volcano can reach boiling temperatures, is more acidic than battery acid, and experiences frequent eruptions. This research analyzes a time series of samples collected since the sterilization event utilizing existing protocols. DNA sequencing results will establish colonization and ecological succession through time. The laboratory work and subsequent analyses is led by a female undergraduate student. A public lecture on ‘microbiology at the extreme’ is planned to disseminate novel research results and the implications for early life on Earth and Mars.This research explores microbial dispersal, colonization, and ecological succession in a hostile environment by examining the time-series distribution of Acidiphilium bacteria across an active volcano. The Poás volcano summit crater lake was created after the sterilizing magmatic activity waned, allowing the nascent lake to form in late 2019. Since then, aseptic sampling of the lake fluids and lake bottom muds has occurred on a roughly two-month cadence, establishing a time-series of samples. Laboratory investigations of the samples include 16S rRNA NextGen sequencing and downstream analyses to determine community characteristics through time to address colonization and community evolution. Metagenomics results are used to probe genetic adaptations that confer survival in this harsh environment, including functional pathways to reduce the effects of toxic metals, such as the extremely high concentrations of arsenic. Identified potential metabolic pathways are being compared to chemical energy estimates derived from co-sampled lake fluids. The results of this study provide baseline data to address the timescales for colonization and the changes in community characteristics through time for one of the newest and most dynamic lakes on Earth. These findings have direct implications for early microbial survival on Earth with significant implications for the early evolution of life on our planet.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.

这个项目的重点是微生物在地球上最新和最具敌意的湖泊之一：哥斯达黎加波阿斯活火山的拉古纳卡连特湖内的定植和生存。在地球上创造新生的、无菌的水生环境是非常罕见的;因此，这项研究是研究微生物生命如何在新湖泊中殖民和进化的一种新方法。该项目增加了我们对早期地球和火星可居住性的理解，这些地球和火星经历了同样恶劣的水火山环境，反复发生灭菌事件。活火山顶部的这种极端水生环境可以达到沸腾的温度，比电池酸更酸性，并且经常爆发。本研究利用现有方案分析了自灭菌事件以来收集的样本的时间序列。DNA测序结果将确定殖民和生态演替随着时间的推移。实验室工作和随后的分析由一名女本科生领导。为了传播新的研究成果以及对地球和火星早期生命的启示，计划举办“极端微生物”的公开讲座。本研究通过考察活火山上嗜酸菌的时间序列分布，探讨在恶劣环境下微生物的扩散、定植和生态演替。波阿斯火山山顶火山口湖是在消毒岩浆活动减弱后形成的，使新生湖在2019年底形成。从那时起，对湖水和湖底泥的无菌取样大约以两个月为一个周期，建立了一个样本的时间序列。样本的实验室调查包括16 S rRNA NextGen测序和下游分析，以确定随着时间推移的群落特征，以解决殖民化和群落进化。宏基因组学的结果被用来探测在这种恶劣环境中生存的遗传适应，包括减少有毒金属影响的功能途径，如极高浓度的砷。已确定的潜在代谢途径正在与从共同取样的湖水中得出的化学能估计值进行比较。这项研究的结果提供了基线数据，以解决殖民化的时间尺度和地球上最新和最具活力的湖泊之一的群落特征随时间的变化。这些发现对地球上早期微生物的生存有直接的影响，对地球上生命的早期进化也有重要意义。该奖项反映了NSF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。