CAREER: The role of quorum sensing in a methane-oxidizing bacterial community

细菌群落在地球上执行许多重要过程，从碳循环到封存和降解污染物。然而，这些群落中的细菌如何相互作用以及它们的环境如何执行这些功能的分子细节仍然不清楚。该项目将使用最先进的质谱和基因组方法来确定消耗温室气体甲烷的社区中的细菌如何使用化学信号分子相互作用，以及这些相互作用如何影响甲烷消耗的速率。研究结果将有助于了解重要细菌群落的结构和功能，以便在未来对这些过程进行建模和预测。为了提高犹他州大学代表性不足的学生在生物化学方面的职业意识，该项目将采用一种多成分的方法，名为“生物化学家：幕后"，该方法与犹他州大学的现有举措相结合，并加强了这些举措。这种方法将向未被充分代表的学生介绍生物化学研究背后的人和过程，使这一领域更加相关，并帮助这些学生培养科学身份和自我效能感。好氧甲烷氧化细菌群落通过将甲烷衍生的碳分配给直接氧化剂和不氧化甲烷的细菌来隔离这种强大的温室气体。这些生物是碳循环的重要组成部分。然而，在这些生态关键的财团管理相互作用的分子细节仍然不清楚。许多细菌使用群体感应信号来调节细菌群落中的群体行为。虽然群体感应的作用已经在许多个体物种中进行了研究，但在类似于自然环境中发现的整个群落中所做的工作要少得多。本计画将探讨群体感应在甲烷氧化细菌群落模式中的角色。将使用先前建立的群体感应信号识别方法（包括反向稳定同位素标记）来识别群体中存在的群体感应信号，以确定哪些群体成员可以产生这些信号。非靶向代谢组学，宏基因组学和元转录组学的组合将用于识别这些信号和它们在模型社区中调节的基因，并在细菌分离株和简化的合成社区中进行补充机制研究。这项工作将提供一个机制的理解，如何群体感应管理这个系统的结构和功能。这项工作还将表征新的群体感应信号，并将受调控的基因与其表型联系起来，这将使未来能够预测这种和其他环境重要的微生物群落中的分子相互作用。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。

Bacterial communities perform many important processes on Earth, from cycling carbon to sequestering and degrading pollutants. However, the molecular details of how the bacteria in these communities interact with each other and their environment to perform these functions are still not understood. This project will use state-of-the-art mass spectrometry and genomic methods to determine how bacteria in a community that consumes the greenhouse gas methane interact using chemical signaling molecules, and how these interactions influence the rate of methane consumption. The research results will help in understanding the structure and function of important bacterial communities, to allow for modeling and prediction of these processes in the future. To increase career awareness in biochemistry amongst underrepresented students at the University of Utah, the project will use a multicomponent approach entitled Biochemists: Behind the Scene which integrates with and enhances existing initiatives at the University of Utah. This approach will introduce underrepresented students to the people and processes behind biochemistry research, to make this field more relatable and help these students develop a science identity and sense of self-efficacy.Aerobic methane-oxidizing bacterial communities sequester this potent greenhouse gas by distributing methane-derived carbon among direct oxidizers and bacteria that do not oxidize methane themselves. These organisms are therefore an important part of the carbon cycle. However, the molecular details that govern interactions in these ecologically critical consortia are still not understood. Many bacteria use quorum sensing signals to regulate group behaviors in bacterial communities. While the role of quorum sensing has been studied in many individual species, much less work has been done on its role in whole communities that resemble those found in natural environments. This project will determine the role of quorum sensing in a model methane-oxidizing bacterial community. Quorum sensing signals present in the community will be identified using previously established quorum sensing signal identification methodologies, including inverse stable isotopic labeling, to determine which community members can produce these signals. A combination of untargeted metabolomics, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics will be used to identify these signals and the genes they regulate in the model community, with complementary mechanistic studies in bacterial isolates and simplified synthetic communities. This work will provide a mechanistic understanding of how quorum sensing governs the structure and function of this system. This work will also characterize new quorum sensing signals and link regulated genes to their phenotypes, which will enable future predictions of molecular interactions in this and other environmentally important microbial communities.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.