Multi-channel quantitative PCR machine

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Funds are requested to support the purchase of a real-time, quantitative thermo-cycler system (q-PCR) that will support research programs in two adjoining biological oceanography laboratories in the University of Victoria (UVic) School of Earth and Ocean Sciences. The equipment will be housed in Juniper's laboratory where it will be used for studies of the dynamics of marine prokaryote communities. Varela's lab will use the equipment in studies of linkages between phytoplankton physiology and the cycling of biologically significant elements in the ocean. In the Juniper lab, the q-PCR machine will become a key element of studies in two marine environments subject to changing redox conditions: a seasonally anoxic/hypoxic fjord and mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal vents. Initial research will focus on nitrogen and sulphur cycle bacteria, and autotrophic CO2 fixation pathways, all of which play important ecological and biogeochemical roles in these environments. The q-PCR system will enable us to gain new insight into the relative importance of structural and functional responses of these microbial communities to environmental variability. Structural responses will be evident as changes in the relative abundances of groups of bacteria (and archaea) detected with primers specific to the 16S rRNA gene or key metabolic genes (eg. nitrate reduction, sulphide oxidation, CO2 fixation). Functional responses will be detected as changes in gene expression, through combining real-time PCR with reverse transcription to quantify messenger RNA. The Varela lab will use the machine to quantify the expression of N and Si transporter genes in phytoplankton in support of studies of phytoplankton nutrient metabolism in the NE Pacific and Arctic Oceans. In addition to analysis of field samples, the Varela lab will use the machine to support laboratory studies that will use phytoplankton cultures to investigate the effect of N and Si limitation on the expression of transporter genes. Without this machine we cannot undertake any research or HQP training in our laboratories requiring the quantification of specific microorganisms, functional genes or gene expression in the marine environment.