MIM: Deciphering and Optimizing Cross-Domain Interactions to Increase Productivity in High pH-High Alkalinity Microalgae Communities

微藻负责全球一半以上的二氧化碳固定，并且通常比陆地植物具有更高的光合效率。微藻可以利用这种固定碳来生产脂质等化合物，这些化合物作为生物燃料和化学生产的原油替代品具有价值。此外，微藻可以利用废水在边缘土地上种植;因此，它们的商业种植不会与现有的粮食和饲料作物直接竞争。大规模培养微藻的一个主要挑战是缺乏对微生物群落如何影响藻类生长的了解。这个跨学科的研究和培训项目将使用微生物学和分子生物学方法，结合工程和计算机建模方法，弥合理解藻类微生物组相互作用的差距，以实现最大的生产力和培养稳定性。研究方法和结果将可转移到与社会相关的其他自然和工业系统，如废水处理，营养循环和营养品生产。更广泛的社会成果将包括改进藻类种植战略，培训研究生和本科生，重点是整合蒙大拿州部落学院的学生，以及为K-12教室开发教育推广模块。该研究项目将侧重于了解并最终控制高产，高pH/高碱度藻类培养物的微生物组，以实现稳定和强大的初级生产力。将在藻类的自然栖息地和富集培养物中确定和量化物理和代谢相互作用。将开发生物体和群落代谢的数学模型，并用于预测微生物组和种间相互作用的可能改善。这些预测将使用定义明确的实验进行测试，包括下一代测序和生理学研究，从而能够在培养和单细胞水平上观察碳和氮交换。建模和实验的迭代细化将导致对社区生产力、健壮性和稳定性的深入理解和最终优化。在更广泛的生态层面上，这项工作将破译生物在高pH值，高碱度环境中的相互作用，这些环境是世界上最具生产力的生态系统之一。研究结果和方法的开发将很容易转移到其他光营养驱动的环境，以及其他多域微生物群落，如真菌-细菌共培养。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Microalgae are responsible for more than half of the carbon dioxide fixation worldwide and often have greater photosynthetic efficiencies than terrestrial plants. Microalgae can use this fixed carbon to produce compounds like lipids that have value as an alternative to crude oil for biofuel and chemical production. Furthermore, microalgae can be cultivated on marginal lands using waste water; thus, they their commercial cultivation does not compete directly with existing food and feed crops. A major challenge for the large-scale cultivation of microalgae is the lack of understanding about how microbial communities affect algae growth. This interdisciplinary research and training project will use microbiology and molecular biology approaches, combined with engineering and computer modeling approaches, to bridge gaps in the understanding of algal microbiome interactions to achieve maximum productivity and culture stability. The research approaches and results will be transferrable to other natural and industrial systems relevant to society such as wastewater treatment, nutrient cycling, and nutraceutical production. Broader societal outcomes will include improved algal cultivation strategies, the training of graduate and undergraduate students with an emphasis on integrating students from tribal colleges in Montana, and the development of educational outreach modules for K-12 classrooms. This research project will focus on understanding and ultimately controlling the microbiome of highly productive, high pH/high alkalinity algal cultures for stable and robust primary productivity. Physical and metabolic interactions will be identified and quantified in the algae’s natural habitat and in enrichment cultures. Mathematical models of organismal and community metabolisms will be developed and used to predict possible improvements in the microbiome and in interspecies interactions. These predictions will be tested using well-defined experiments including next generation sequencing and physiology studies enabling observation of carbon and nitrogen exchange at both the culture and single-cell levels. Iterative refinement of modeling and experiments will lead to an in-depth understanding and ultimately optimization of community productivity, robustness, and stability. On a broader, ecological level, this work will decipher interactions of organisms in high pH, high alkalinity environments, which are among the most productive ecosystems in the world. The results and approaches to be developed will be readily transferrable to other phototrophic-driven environments as well as to other multi-domain microbial communities such as fungal-bacterial co-cultures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.