Is thiosulfate an important energy source for marine bacterioplankton?

水体中的细菌被称为浮游细菌，在海洋生态系统中具有几种重要的功能作用。浮游细菌是生物量现存量的主要部分，并负责浮游植物产生的有机碳的再循环。浮游细菌是海洋食物链的基础，负责大多数海洋地球化学过程。通过基因组测序等分子技术的应用，我们对浮游细菌多样性的理解得到了极大的提高。对许多浮游细菌基因组的测序表明，许多浮游细菌能够使用硫代硫酸盐（一种海洋硫化合物）作为补充能源。这意味着那些利用硫代硫酸盐的浮游细菌可以更快更有效地生长，本研究将确定硫代硫酸盐是否是海洋浮游细菌可行的补充能源。硫代硫酸盐浓度和硫代硫酸盐利用基因活性的初步评估将在一个既定的沿海采样站在英吉利海峡。这些信息将被用来设计实验室实验，使用一个模型浮游细菌。实验室实验将确定自然条件下硫代硫酸盐的生理和代谢效应。这项研究将提高我们对浮游细菌功能的理解。这些知识对其他对海洋地球化学循环，特别是碳循环感兴趣的海洋科学家将是有价值的。这些数据也将有助于科学家对海洋细菌基因组进行测序，因为它验证了他们对普遍硫代硫酸盐利用基因的观察。

Bacteria in the water column are known as bacterioplankton and have several important functional roles in marine ecosystems. Bacterioplankton are a major proportion of the standing stock of biomass and are responsible for the recycling of organic carbon produced by phytoplankton. Bacterioplankton are the basis of the marine food chain and are responsible for most biogeochemical processes. Our understanding of the diversity of bacterioplankton has been greatly enhanced through the application of molecular techniques, such as genome sequencing. The sequencing of numerous bacterioplankton genomes has revealed that many are capable of using thiosulfate, a marine sulfur compound, as a supplementary energy source. This means that those bacterioplankton that use thiosulfate could grow faster and more efficiently.This research will determine if thiosulfate is a feasible supplementary energy source for marine bacterioplankton. A preliminary assessment of thiosulfate concentrations and thiosulfate utilisation gene activity will be made at an established coastal sampling station in the English Channel. This information will be used to design laboratory experiments using a model bacterioplankton. The laboratory experiments will determine the physiological and metabolic effects of thiosulfate under natural conditions. This research will improve our understanding of how the bacterioplankton function. The knowledge will be valuable to other marine scientists interested in biogeochemical cycling, especially the carbon cycle. The data will also be useful to scientists sequencing marine bacterial genomes because it validates their observations of prevalent thiosulfate utilisation genes.