NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2011

本行动资助2011年度美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金，生物学与数学和物理科学交叉。该奖学金支持奖学金获得者在生物和化学交叉领域的宿主实验室进行研究和培训计划。凯瑟琳·麦基奖学金的研究和培训计划的标题是“地球上最丰富的光合生物的铁限制的光合策略”。这项研究的主办机构是海洋生物实验室和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所。安东·波斯特和马克·齐藤。光合作用是一个复杂的过程，在这个过程中，细胞利用来自光的能量来生长，当生长所需的营养物质稀缺时，优化这一过程可能很困难。在淡水藻类和海洋硅藻中，已经进化出许多策略来优化铁和氮限制下的光合作用，并得到了充分的研究。然而，对于picocyanobacteria在铁和氮含量低于最佳水平时所采用的光合作用策略，我们所知甚少。这些小的单细胞藻类是地球上最丰富的光合生物，它们的多样性和全球普遍性提供了一个理想的模型系统，在这个系统中，使用野生型和实验室培养来表征对铁和氮限制的反应。本研究探讨了花青菌对铁和氮限制的短期（驯化）和长期（适应）反应，并确定这些策略如何影响环境中的铁、氮和碳循环。培训目标包括学习全球和靶向蛋白质组学、自动基因测序和痕量金属分析的前沿方法，使研究员能够进入地球化学领域。该项目为从藻类到陆地植物的光合生物全球分布中的光合策略以及营养胁迫如何驱动自然界光合作用的进化提供了新的见解。更广泛的影响包括在实验室对学生进行一对一的指导，并向当地学校推广。一个教学选项支持研究员为WHOI和其他机构的少数民族学生的伙伴关系教育计划开发光合作用课程。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2011, Intersections of Biology and Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow at the intersection of biology and chemistry. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Katherine Mackey is "Photosynthetic strategies for iron limitation in Earth's most abundant photosynthetic organism." The host institutions for this research are the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with sponsoring scientists Drs. Anton Post and Mak Saito. Photosynthesis is a complex process in which cells use energy from light to grow, and optimizing this process can be difficult when nutrients needed for growth are scarce. In freshwater algae and marine diatoms, numerous strategies have evolved to optimize photosynthesis during iron and nitrogen limitation and are well-studied. However, less is known about the photosynthetic strategies employed by picocyanobacteria to cope with less than optimal levels of iron and nitrogen. These small, single-celled algae are the most abundant photosynthetic organisms on Earth, and their diversity and global ubiquity provide an ideal model system in which to characterize responses to iron and nitrogen limitation, using both wild type and laboratory cultures. This research probes the short-term (acclimation) and long-term (adaptation) responses of picocyanobacteria to iron and nitrogen limitation and determines how these strategies impact iron, nitrogen and carbon cycling in the environment. Training goals include learning cutting-edge methods in global and targeted proteomics, automated gene sequencing, and trace metal analysis, allowing the Fellow to branch into geochemistry. This project offers new insights on photosynthetic strategies in the global distributions of photosynthetic organisms from algae to land plants and on how nutrient stress drives the evolution of photosynthesis in nature. Broader impacts include one-on-one mentoring of students in the laboratory and outreach to local schools. A teaching option supports the Fellow to develop a photosynthesis course for the Partnership Education Program for minority students at WHOI and other institutions.