Collaborative RIDGE Research: Distribution of Phototrophic Organisms at Hydrothermal Vents

大洋中脊的深海热液喷口是持续光照的场所，光照通量足以支持非太阳光合作用。 这些热液环境被认为是地球上生命起源的可能场所，产生了一种新发现的含有叶绿素和类胡萝卜素色素的细菌物种。 研究人员正在深海喷口、喷口羽流和喷口上方的水柱中系统地寻找光养生物。 他们的重点是实地采样，船上分析的色素和硫化物矿物样品相关的有机物质的荧光特性的测定，显微镜下评价样品中微生物细胞的形态和荧光特性，分离和培养光养生物，并利用PCR和DNA测序鉴定光合作用基因。 研究光合生物在其自然栖息地，PI正在进行多学科方案的第一阶段，其特点是深海热液喷口的分布，生物化学和生态意义的光合生物。

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges are a locus for sustained light of sufficient flux to support non-solar photosynthesis. These hydrothermal environments, thought to be likely places for the origin of life on Earth, produce a newly discovered bacterial species containing chorophyll and carotenoid pigments. The PIs are systematically searching for phototrophs at deep-sea vents, within vent plumes, and in the water column overlying vents. They focus on field sampling, shipboard analysis of pigments and determination of fluorescence properties of organic matter associated with sulfide mineral samples, microscopic evaluation of morphology and fluorescence properties of microbial cells in samples, isolation and cultivation of phototrophs, and identification of photosynthesis genes using PCR and DNA sequencing. Studying phototrophs in their natural habitat, the PIs are conducting the first phase of a multi-disciplinary program characterizing the distribution, biochemistry, and ecological significance of phototrophs at deep-sea hydrothermal vents.