MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for Investigations of Metal-Organic Marine Bioinorganic Chemistry

PI要求获得资金，以获得耦合液相色谱/质谱仪（LCMS），这将为他们提供微生物生物地球化学，痕量金属地球化学，金属组学和海洋蛋白质组学领域的独特研究能力。这种方法的力量在于能够确定环境中金属有机物、金属蛋白质、有机金属和有机营养化合物的形态和结构，这在海洋科学中是独一无二的。该系统将提供分离有机化合物的能力，从海洋环境和培养物样品中分离，并将这种材料送到电感耦合等离子体质谱仪进行元素分析。ICP-MS检测器特别适用于测定金属和一些非金属（例如，Fe、Zn、Co、Hg、P、As、Se、卤素）。尽管微量金属有机络合物和有机营养物在调节海洋微生物群落的大小和组成方面发挥着关键作用，但对海洋中金属和营养物的有机结合形式知之甚少。最近的研究表明，有机物种可能与海洋温室气体的产生有关，气候驱动的海水化学变化反馈影响有机物种形成。同样，在海洋环境中发现新的金属蛋白也有很大的潜力，因为与大多数模式生物来自的陆地环境相比，海洋环境是在海洋独特的地球化学条件下进化的。 该仪器将支持WHOI、访问科学家和外部合作者的各种项目。这些仪器将为加速海洋中金属络合物的研究提供必要的分析能力，从而进一步从机理上理解海洋地球化学循环。WHOI-MIT联合项目的研究生将接受培训，以使用仪器作为海洋生物无机化学课程的一部分或作为PI实验室的学生。此外，参加WHOI少数民族暑期学生奖学金计划的本科生将有机会参加拟议的研究活动。这项研究的结果将增加我们对海洋地球化学循环的全面了解。

The PIs request funding to acquire coupled liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry instrumentation (LCMS) that will provide them with a unique research capability in the fields of microbial biogeochemistry, trace metal geochemistry, metallomics, and marine proteomics. The power of this approach lies in the ability to determine speciation and structure of metal-organic, metalloprotein, organometallic and organic nutrient compounds in the environment which will be unique in ocean sciences. The system will provide the capability to separate organic compounds, isolate from the marine environment and culture samples, and pass this material to the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) for elemental analysis. The ICP-MS detectors are particularly well suited for determination of metals and some non-metals (e.g., Fe, Zn, Co, Hg, P, As, Se, halogens). Very little is known about the organically bound forms of metals and nutrients in the ocean, even though trace metal organic complexes and organic nutrients play a critical role in regulating the size and composition of marine microbial communities. Recent studies suggest that organic species may be linked to marine greenhouse gas production, and that climate driven changes in seawater chemistry feedback to impact organic speciation. Similarly, there is great potential for discovery of novel metalloproteins in the marine environment, which evolved under the unique biogeochemical conditions of the oceans compared to terrestrial environments, where most model organisms are from.Broader Impacts: This instrumentation will support a wide variety of projects at WHOI, visiting scientists, and external collaborators. These instruments will provide necessary analytical power for expediting the study of metal complexes in the ocean which will further the mechanistic understanding of biogeochemical cycling. Graduate students in the WHOI-MIT Joint Program will be trained to use the instrumentation either as part of the Marine Bioinorganic Chemistry class or as students in one of the PIs' labs. In addition, undergraduate students participating in the WHOI Minority Summer Student Fellowship program will have the opportunity to participate in the proposed research activities. The results of this research will increase our overall understanding of biogeochemical cycling in the ocean.