Marine Biotechnology Fellowship: Genetic Exchange in the Marine Environment

本研究的重点是研究基因在海水中的转移 微生物群落通过应用分子 避免选择性分离过程的技术， 修为 由于遗传物质可以转移到 没有基因表达的接受宿主，这项研究将是 用来检测标记基因序列的存在 通过噬菌体转导转移到受体微生物宿主， 并辅以旨在确定 标记序列在受体中的后续基因表达 hosts. 生物素化探针已经被开发用于可视化 病毒感染细胞中病毒序列的存在， 由于其敏感性和特异性， 用于追踪天然微生物中的特定基因序列的方法 社区. 这一方法将应用于研究 质粒DNA转导的一般转导弧菌噬菌体。 颗粒有机物在生态上的重要作用 供体宿主、噬菌体、基因受体的生长速度 宿主、噬菌体/宿主相遇率、噬菌体存活和基因 将研究转导频率。 的结果予以 噬菌体基因转导的研究 海洋环境将作为基因转移的模式， 海洋微生物，并指出基因的潜在重要性， 在原生海洋微生物群落中转移。

The focus of this research is to study gene transfer among marine microbial communities through the application of molecular techniques that avoid the selective process of isolation and cultivation. Since genetic material can be transferred to receptive hosts without gene expression, this study will be designed to detect the presence of marker gene sequences transferred by phage transduction to recipient microbial hosts and complemented with studies designed to determine the frequency of subsequent gene expression of the marker sequences in recipient hosts. Biotintylated probes have been developed for visualizing the presence of viral sequences in virus-infected cells and, because of its sensitivity and specificity, is the most appropriate approach for tracking specific gene sequences in native microbial communities. This methodology will be applied to the study of plasmid DNA transduction by a generalized transducing vibriophage. The ecologically important role of particulate organic matter on the growth rate of the donor host, vibriophages, gene recipient hosts, phage/host encounter rates, bacteriophage survival and gene transduction frequency will be investigated. The results of these studies on gene transduction in vibriophages isolated from the marine environment will serve as a model for gene transfer in marine microorganisms and indicate the potential importance of gene transfer in native marine microbial communities.