Unraveling oceanic multi-element cycles using single cell ionomics

使用单细胞离子组学揭示海洋多元素循环

• 批准号: 2875388
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2875388
• 关键词: Unraveling; oceanic; multi; element; cycles

Oceanic elemental cycles are strongly influenced by marine microbes, including phytoplankton. Although it has long been recognised that the elemental composition of microbes is a key determinant of these cycles, analytical limitations mean current understanding is typically based on observations of limited numbers of elements averaged across mixed communities. Appreciation of potentially important heterogeneities at individual and population levels and a more holistic understanding of multi-element cycling is thus lacking. Consequently, single-organism/cell analysis is a fast-growing field, but many techniques are hampered by low throughput. We aim to apply a new analytical tool (Time of Flight Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, ToF-ICPMS) to facilitate rapid multi-element analysis of individual marine phytoplankton cells and potentially higher trophic levels. This project will focus on the key question of how variability in (co-)limiting nutrient availability influences the multi-elemental cellular composition of non-limiting nutrients, which has significant consequences for understanding coupled nutrient cycling. Although this problem has been addressed in specific cases on an element-by-element basis, we lack true multi-element ('ionomic') treatments, which also account for the heterogeneity of mixed natural communities. The project will thus facilitate a deeper understanding of multi-elemental ocean biogeochemical cycles.

海洋元素周期受到包括浮游植物在内的海洋微生物的强烈影响。尽管长期以来一直认识到，微生物的元素组成是这些周期的关键决定因素，但分析局限性意味着当前的理解通常基于对混合群落中平均数量的有限元素的观察。因此，缺乏对个人和人口水平上潜在重要的异质性的欣赏，以及对多元素循环的更全面的理解。因此，单生物/细胞分析是一个快速增长的领域，但是许多技术受到低吞吐量的阻碍。我们旨在应用一种新的分析工具（飞行时间电感耦合等离子体质谱，TOF-ICPMS），以促进单个海洋浮游植物细胞的快速多元素分析和潜在的较高的营养水平。该项目将重点介绍（共同限制养分可用性的变异性如何影响非限制营养素的多元素细胞组成）的关键问题，这对理解偶联的养分循环产生了重大影响。尽管该问题已在逐元素的基础上解决，但我们缺乏真正的多元素（'离子'）处理，这也解释了混合自然社区的异质性。因此，该项目将有助于更深入地了解多元素海洋生物地球化学周期。