What Makes Microcystis Bloom? Dissecting the Physiological Ecology of a Toxic Cyanobacterium with Community Level Proteomics

尽管有毒的蓝藻微囊藻一直是全球研究的焦点，但科学家们仍然无法明确地回答“是什么让微囊藻大量繁殖？”利用基因组学和蛋白质组学信息，田纳西大学和橡树岭国家实验室的研究人员将收集微囊藻细胞在开花之前、期间和之后同时活跃的生化途径的“快照”。通过将这些途径与受控条件下的实验室培养物进行比较，研究人员将能够首次梳理出环境与微囊藻种群增长之间复杂的相互作用。为了实现这一目标，研究人员将整合最近完成的微囊藻基因组序列的新数据集，并使用最先进的工具分析全细胞和社区蛋白表达。所得到的信息将提供细胞在不同生长条件下以及开花形成、高潮和终止期间的生理状态的准确图谱。这项工作还将提供环境如何影响细胞通路的信息，这是理解生态生物体反应与细胞生化过程之间联系的重要一步。该项目将促进EPSCoR机构（田纳西大学）的外联和多样化，并为本科生和研究生提供培训。ppi将继续让代表性不足的群体参与研究，并将通过关注科学的新闻实习生向公众传播结果。

Although the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis continues to be the focus of studies around the globe, scientists remain unable to definitively answer the question 'what makes Microcystis bloom?' Using genomic and proteomic information, researchers at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will collect 'snapshots' of the biochemical pathways that are simultaneously active in Microcystis cells before, during, and after bloom conditions. By comparing these pathways with lab cultures grown under controlled conditions, researchers will be able to for the first time tease apart the complicated interactions between the environment and Microcystis population growth. To accomplish this goal the researchers will integrate new data sets of recently completed genomic sequences of Microcystis with state-of-the-art tools that analyze whole cell and community protein expression. The resulting information will provide an accurate map of the physiological status of cells under different growth conditions as well as during bloom formation, climax and termination. The work will also provide information on how the environment influences cellular pathways, an important step in understanding the connections between ecological organism response and cellular biochemical processes.The project will facilitate outreach and diversification at an EPSCoR Institution (The University of Tennessee) and provide training for undergraduate and graduate students. The PIs will continue to engage underrepresented groups in the research and will disseminate results to the public through science-focused journalism interns.