Investigating 'cross-talk' between pathogenic Vibrio and phytoplankton, and implications for human health under climate change.(Ref:4297)

人类之间的交流使我们能够在社会中共同生活。沟通的中断可能导致冲突和社会结构的崩溃。然而，沟通并不局限于人类。化学线索和信号，统称为信息化学物质（图1），被生活在陆地和海洋上的生物广泛用于物种内个体之间或不同物种之间的交流。例如，信天翁使用一种叫做DMS（二甲基硫）的简单化学线索来追踪它们以浮游动物、鱿鱼、鱼甚至其他鸟类为食的高产地区!我们从陆地生态系统中了解到，气候变化的压力因素，如变暖，可以改变信息化学品的生产和组成，对自然生态系统产生深远的负面影响。虽然这种化学通讯目前在海洋中工作得很好，但我们不知道海洋生物在气候变化下将如何交流!浮游植物是我们呼吸的50%氧气的生产者，也使用信息化学物质与其他生物“交谈”，如微生物，包括弧菌等病原体，它们可以被浮游植物阻止或吸引。几种弧菌属物种是已知引起水传播疾病的人类病原体，例如引起霍乱的霍乱弧菌。在这个项目中，您将进行一系列新的实验，以支持由信息化学物质介导的植物毒素-弧菌关系，并探索气候变化引起的压力源（如温度，盐度和降水）如何改变植物毒素-弧菌相互作用。研究结果将使我们能够了解浮游植物病原性海洋细菌相互作用的动力学，特别是微生物，如弧菌，代表了欧洲和其他高纬度地区的新出现的疾病威胁，由气候变化驱动。项目目的和方法：化学富集的藻圈（图2），微尺度的粘液区域包围浮游植物细胞，代表了藻类和其他生物之间的相互作用是由渗出的化学物质控制的市场。在这个博士学位，你将进行开创性的研究，以建立弧菌与浮游植物的协会是如何控制的信息化学品。您将在生态学，微生物学，化学，生理学和气候变化研究的界面工作，研究新的问题，如（i）哪些信息化学物质使浮游植物与选定的弧菌物种的正面和负面“串扰”;（ii）整个化学景观如何在这种关联期间出现;以及（iii）这种关联如何在应对气候变化引起的压力时发生变化。您将在一个高度跨学科的国际团队中工作（英国和德国），使用不同的先进技术从浮游植物培养物中分离出抗弧菌和亲弧菌化合物，并将接受使用不同光谱学方法的培训。您将与Georg Pohnert（德国马克斯普朗克化学生态学研究所）合作，使用最新的"组学"技术，如非靶向全细胞和单细胞代谢组学。您还将执行实验室孵育，以量化压力源的影响，如平均温度上升对弧菌浮游植物协会。将使用多变量统计分析数据。您将被允许自由和灵活地修改项目设计和方向，这取决于您的兴趣和技能，在项目目标的广泛范围内。

Communication amongst humans allows us to live together in societies. Breakdowns in communication can lead to conflicts and a breakdown of society's structures. However, communication is not limited to humans. Chemical cues and signals, collectively called infochemicals (Fig. 1), are widely used by organisms living on land and sea to communicate between individuals within a species or between different species. For example, albatrosses use a simple chemical cue called DMS (dimethyl sulphide) to track highly productive areas where they forage on zooplankton, squid, fish, and even other birds!We know from terrestrial ecosystems that climate change stressors such as warming can alter the production and composition of infochemicals with profound negative effects on natural ecosystems. Although this chemical communication currently works well in the ocean, we do not know how marine organisms will communicate under climate change!Phytoplankton, the producers of 50% oxygen we breathe, also use infochemicals to 'talk' to other organisms like microbes, including pathogens such as Vibrio which can be either deterred or attracted towards phytoplankton. Several Vibrio species are human pathogens known to cause waterborne diseases, e.g. Vibrio cholerae responsible for cholera. Climate change is predicted to escalate this problem, posing increased threat to human health.In this project you will conduct a novel set of experiments underpinning phytoplankton-Vibrio relationships mediated by infochemicals, and explore how climate change induced stressors such as temperature, salinity and precipitation might change phytoplankton-Vibrio interactions. Results will enable us to understand dynamics of phytoplankton-pathogenic marine bacteria interaction, in particular microbes such as Vibrios that represent an emerging disease threat in Europe and other higher latitudes, driven by climate change.Project Aims and Methods:The chemically enriched phycosphere (Fig 2), the microscale mucous region enveloping phytoplankton cells, represents the marketplace where interactions between algae and other organisms are controlled by exuded chemicals. In this PhD, you will undertake pioneering research to establish how the association of Vibrio with phytoplankton are controlled by infochemicals. You will work at the interface of ecology, microbiology, chemistry, physiology and climate change research investigating novel questions such as (i) which infochemicals enable positive and negative 'cross-talk' of phytoplankton with selected Vibrio species; (ii) how the entire chemical landscape appears during such associations; and (iii) how such association changes in response to climate-change-induced stressors.You will work in a highly interdisciplinary international team (UK and Germany) and use different advanced techniques to isolate anti- and pro-Vibrio compounds from phytoplankton cultures and will be trained to use different spectroscopy methods. You will collaborate with Georg Pohnert (Max Plank Institute of Chemical Ecology, Germany) to use latest 'omics' techniques such as untargeted whole cell and single cell metabolomics. You will also perform laboratory incubations to quantify the effect of stressors such as mean temperature rise on the Vibrio-phytoplankton association. Data will be analyzed using multivariate statistics. You will be allowed freedom and flexibility to modify the project design and direction, depending on your interests and skills, within the broad scope of the project's aims.