EAGER: Fertilizing the Tree of Life with novel taxa from deep-sea vent microbial metagenomes collected over time and space

深海温泉出现在大洋中脊或深海火山中，是地球上开发最少的环境之一。当充满气体和富含矿物质的非常热的水与深度超过1500米(1英里)的冷海水混合时，矿物质从溶液中沉淀出来，形成多孔岩石，通常被称为“烟囱”。这些结构被非常丰富的喜热微生物生命所定居，其中许多对科学来说都是新的。研究人员将使用尖端基因组技术，从过去25年在大西洋、太平洋和印度洋收集的样本中，对这些高温生态系统中的微生物基因组进行排序。这项研究将改变我们对地球上生命的范围和复杂性的理解，并将为生命在这些极端条件下如何茁壮成长和进化提供洞察力。此外，这项研究中解锁的基因组信息可以用于搜索未来的生物技术和工业应用。此外，这项研究产生的数据将作为2023年6月通过的联合国公海协定的微生物基因组资源，该协定在一定程度上旨在防止公海生物多样性的丧失。这项研究的总体目标是合成深海热液喷口沉积物中古生物和细菌环境基因组的空间和时间动力学。这种方法具有变革性，因为它将有可能从太平洋、大西洋和印度洋的深海热液喷口沉积物中建立一个广泛的微生物基因组生物多样性的时间框架，并对深海喷口缺乏代表性的谱系提供进一步的分类学和多样性见解。具体地说，具有代表性的深海热液喷口元基因组和养殖收藏基因组的特点将是将最近的元基因组与通过这项研究获得的基因组进行整合，跨越1999-2018年的数据。来自深海喷口环境的新属、科、目、纲和门的参考(类型)元基因组组装基因组(MAG)将被整理、命名并保存在Genbank、基因组分类数据库(GTDB)和最近开发的SeqCode中。这些基因组将被整合到分类描述和合成的分支，如水生植物，酸度和Desulfurellales(Hippea spp.)并对其进行了分类修订。使用元基因组学方法，这项研究将探索单个和全球地点是否随着时间的推移发生了功能和/或系统基因组变化，并解决微生物分类学中的悬而未决的问题，例如类型菌株环境基因组如何或是否随时间甚至空间进化；了解地球生命进化的关键过程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Deep-sea hot springs occurring along mid-ocean ridges or in deep-sea volcanoes, are some of the most poorly explored environments on Earth. When the very hot gas-filled and mineral-rich water mixes with the cold seawater at depths greater than 1500 meters (1 mile), the minerals precipitate out of solution producing porous rocks often referred to as ‘chimneys’. These structures are colonized by a very rich diversity of heat-loving microbial life, much of which is new to science. The researchers will use cutting-edge genomic technology to sequence the genomes of the microbes in these high temperature ecosystems from samples collected over the past 25 years in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The research will transform our understanding of the extent and complexity of life on Earth and will provide insights into how life thrives and evolves under these extreme conditions. Further, the genomic information unlocked in this study can be used to search for future biotechnological and industrial applications. Additionally, data generated in this research will serve as a microbial genomic resource for the UN High Seas agreement adopted in June 2023, which in part aims prevent biodiversity loss in the high seas. The overall goal of the research is to synthesize the spatial and temporal dynamics of archaeal and bacterial environmental genomes in deep-sea hydrothermal vent deposits. This approach is transformative as it will be possible to develop an extensive temporal framework of microbial genomic biodiversity from deep-sea hydrothermal vent deposits in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and provide further taxonomic and diversity insights into poorly represented lineages from deep-sea vents. Specifically, representative deep-sea hydrothermal vent metagenomes and culture collection genomes will be characterized by integrating recent metagenomes with those obtained through this research, spanning data from 1999-2018. Reference (type) metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) of new genera, families, orders, classes, and phyla from deep-sea vent environments will be curated, named and deposited in Genbank, the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) and in the recently developed SeqCode. These genomes will be integrated into taxonomic characterization and synthesis of the clades such has the Aquificota, Aciduliprofundales and Desulfurellales (Hippea spp.) and the taxonomic revision of the Thermoprotei. Using metagenomic approaches, the research will explore whether functional and/or phylogenomic changes have occurred over time from single and global sites, and address outstanding questions in microbial taxonomy, such as how or whether type-strain environmental genomes evolve over time, or even spatially; key processes to understanding the evolution of life on Earth.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.