Cell Cycle Regulation and Differentiation in Marine Phytoplankton and Bacteria

奇泽姆博士将研究海洋浮游生物在波动环境中的生长调节和动态的基本方面，这种环境是典型的海洋生态系统。这一理解对于海洋生产力和食物网动态的建模和设计研究至关重要。具体地说，他们将：*研究硅藻的生命周期，以更好地了解是什么环境和遗传因素控制着从营养繁殖到有性繁殖的转变；*研究蓝藻和海洋细菌的细胞周期，以更好地了解它们的DNA周期在不断变化的生长条件下是如何调节的以及为什么循环的某些方面偏离了经典的大肠杆菌模型；*开发一种多通道、高灵敏度(且相对便宜)的流式细胞仪，这将有助于研究小型浮游动物和海洋细菌。这项工作的结果将加深我们对海洋微生物生长速率和浮游植物种群遗传学的理解；它也将为海洋细菌的研究提供方法学上的进步。此外，它还可以通过揭示海洋生物偏离经典范式的特征，增强我们对微生物生理学的基本理解。

Dr. Chisholm will investigate fundamental aspects of growth regulation and dynamics of marine plankton in the fluctuating environments that are typical of oceanic regimes. This understanding is essential for modelling and designing studies of marine productivity and food web dynamics. Specifically, they will: * Study the diatom life cycle, to better understand what environmental and genetic factors control the switch from vegetative to sexual reproduction; * Investigate the cell cycle in cyanobacteria and marine bacteria, to better understand how their DNA cycle is regulated under changing growth conditions, and why aspects of the cycle deviate from the classic E. coli model; * Develop a multichannel, high-sensitivity (and relatively inexpensive) flow cytometer, which will facilitate the study small picoplankton and marine bacteria. The results of this work will augment our understanding of microbial growth rates in the sea and phytoplankton population genetics; it should also contribute methodological advances for the study of marine bacteria at sea. Moreover, it could enhance our fundamental understanding of microbial physiology by revealing features of marine organisms which deviate from classical paradigms.