How diatom blooms are being formed: Identifying the genetic underpinnings of fast growth.

硅藻华是如何形成的：确定快速生长的遗传基础。

• 批准号: NE/J013730/1
• 负责人: Thomas Mock
• 金额: $ 6.6万
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FJ013730%2F1
• 关键词: How; diatom; blooms; being; formed

Diatoms are responsible for about 25% of global carbon fixation as a result of their successful opportunistic 'bloom and bust' life cycle, which means they quickly dominate phytoplankton communities when conditions become favourable. A rapidly-changing environment has been regarded as the most important driver for diatoms' lifestyle. Decades of research confirm the importance of light, temperature and nutrients for bloom formation in the ocean. Bloom formation is characteristic for many different microalgal species in the ocean. They are able to quickly build up high cell concentrations and therefore biomass if conditions become favourable, which particularly is known from toxic algal blooms close to the shore. These blooms are quite often caused by a combination of elevated temperatures and high concentrations of nutrients. However, the majority of algal blooms in the ocean are not caused by toxic species. Most oceanic microalgae form seasonal blooms in spring and autum, which fuel the entire marine food web. The significance of this seasonal process on a global scale even visible from space is the reason why many different groups from all over the world have worked for decades to better understand how these blooms are being formed. Much has been learned from these studies over the past decades but our group has for the first time provided evidence that a specific conserved key regulator protein and a wider network of many still unknown proteins need to be present in order to be able for diatoms to form blooms. Ramifications of this discovery are significant for our understanding of bloom formation in the ocean but also for biotechnological applications based on microalgae (e.g. biofuel). This fundamental and new knowledge can help us to optimize growth of algae by means of reverse genetics in order to produce any algal product more efficiently and therefore to a cheaper prize. This small grant application aims to obtain a new piece of knowledge to better understand how one single protein and its genetic network can translate favorable environmental conditions into fast growth. We want to investigate the mechanism of action of the gene product of our bloom inducer gene (BIG1). Preliminary evidence shows that the BIG1 protein binds to DNA but we don't know whether it directly binds or via an interacting protein. Another open question is where it binds on the DNA. This grant application will help us to answer how and where the gene product of BIG1 binds to DNA and therefore activates other genes involved in cell division and therefore fast growth. This knowledge is essential for a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of bloom formation in diatoms but also for biotechnological improvement of algal growth for any kind of product derived from marine microalgae.

由于其成功的机会主义的“ Bloom and Bust”生命周期，硅藻大约是全球碳固定的25％，这意味着在条件变得有利时，它们很快就会占据浮游植物的群落。快速变化的环境被认为是硅藻生活方式的最重要的驱动力。数十年的研究证实了光，温度和养分对海洋中花朵形成的重要性。布卢姆的形成是海洋中许多不同微藻物种的特征。他们能够迅速建立高细胞浓度，因此，如果条件变得有利，这尤其是从靠近海岸的有毒藻华中知道的。这些花朵通常是由温度升高和高浓度营养物质的组合引起的。但是，海洋中的大多数藻华并非由有毒物种引起。大多数海洋微藻在春季和秋季都形成季节性开花，这为整个海洋食品网络燃料。这个季节性过程在全球范围内的重要性甚至从空间上可以看到，这是为什么来自世界各地的许多不同群体已经努力工作了数十年来更好地了解这些花朵的形成是如何形成的。在过去的几十年中，从这些研究中学到了很多东西，但是我们的小组首次提供了证据，表明需要存在的特定保守的密钥调节蛋白和许多仍然未知蛋白质的网络需要存在，以便能够使硅藻形成花朵。这一发现的后果对于我们对海洋中的绽放形成的理解以及基于微藻（例如生物燃料）的生物技术应用非常重要。这种基本知识和新知识可以帮助我们通过反向遗传学来优化藻类的生长，以便更有效地生产任何藻类产品，从而获得更便宜的奖励。这个小的赠款应用程序旨在获得一项新知识，以更好地了解一种单一蛋白质及其遗传网络如何将有利的环境条件转化为快速增长。我们想研究花朵诱导剂基因基因产物的作用机理（BIG1）。初步证据表明，BIG1蛋白与DNA结合，但我们不知道它是直接结合还是通过相互作用的蛋白质结合。另一个开放的问题是它在DNA上结合的位置。该赠款的应用将帮助我们回答BIG1的基因产物与DNA结合的方式和何处，因此激活了与细胞分裂相关的其他基因，从而快速生长。这些知识对于更好地理解硅藻中花朵形成的遗传基础至关重要，也是对藻类生长的生物技术改善，以改善源自海洋微藻的任何类型的产品。

项目成果

The first evidence for genotypic stability in a cryopreserved transgenic diatom

• DOI: 10.1007/s10811-013-0047-y
• 发表时间: 2014-02
• 期刊: Journal of Applied Phycology
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Rachel Hipkin;J. Day;C. Rad-Menéndez;T. Mock

Global discovery and characterization of small non-coding RNAs in marine microalgae.

海洋微藻中小非编码 RNA 的全球发现和表征。

• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-15-697
• 发表时间: 2014-08-20
• 期刊: BMC genomics
• 影响因子: 4.4
• 作者: Lopez-Gomollon S;Beckers M;Rathjen T;Moxon S;Maumus F;Mohorianu I;Moulton V;Dalmay T;Mock T
• 通讯作者: Mock T