Compositional Heterogeneity Within Oceanic Suspended Particulate Organic Matter

直到最近，海洋环境中颗粒物有机物质（POM）的分子水平表征在技术上仍然是不可行的。本研究的研究者将利用直接温度分辨质谱（DT-MS）领域的最新发展来研究近海收集的悬浮POM的组成细节。将涉及使用流式细胞术将悬浮POM分离成根据粒径定义的亚类，然后对分类分离物进行DT-MS分析。这种方法将使确定不同种类的有机化合物（多糖、蛋白质、酚类等）的组成和相对重要性成为可能，并为POM的浮游来源建立化学特征。

9503455 Eglinton The molecular-level characterization of particulate organic matter (POM) in the marine environment has remained technically unfeasible until recently. The investigator in this study will be taking advantage of recent developments in the field of direct temperature resolved mass spectrometry (DT-MS) to study compositional details of suspended POM collected from inshore will involve the use of flow cytometry to separate suspended POM into sub-classes defined on the particle size) followed by DT-MS analysis of the class separates. The approach will make possible the determination of the composition and relative importance of different classes of organic compounds (polysaccharides, proteins, phenols, etc.) as well as establish chemical signatures for the planktonic sources of the POM.