Is thiosulfate an important energy source for marine bacterioplankton?

水体中的细菌被称为浮游细菌，在海洋生态系统中具有几个重要的功能作用。浮游细菌是生物质常备存量的主要组成部分，负责浮游植物产生的有机碳的循环利用。浮游细菌是海洋食物链的基础，负责大多数生物地球化学过程。通过基因组测序等分子技术的应用，我们对浮游细菌多样性的了解得到了极大的提高。对大量浮游细菌基因组的测序表明，许多细菌能够使用硫代硫酸盐作为补充能源，硫代硫酸盐是一种海洋硫化物。这意味着使用硫代硫酸盐的浮游细菌可以更快、更高效地生长。这项研究将确定硫代硫酸盐是否是一种可行的海洋浮游细菌的补充能源。将在英吉利海峡建立的沿海采样站对硫代硫酸盐浓度和硫代硫酸盐利用基因活性进行初步评估。这些信息将被用来设计使用浮游细菌模型的实验室实验。实验室实验将确定硫代硫酸盐在自然条件下的生理和代谢效应。这项研究将提高我们对浮游细菌功能的理解。这些知识将对其他对生物地球化学循环感兴趣的海洋科学家有价值，特别是碳循环。这些数据也将有助于科学家对海洋细菌基因组进行测序，因为它验证了他们对普遍存在的硫代硫酸盐利用基因的观察。

Bacteria in the water column are known as bacterioplankton and have several important functional roles in marine ecosystems. Bacterioplankton are a major proportion of the standing stock of biomass and are responsible for the recycling of organic carbon produced by phytoplankton. Bacterioplankton are the basis of the marine food chain and are responsible for most biogeochemical processes. Our understanding of the diversity of bacterioplankton has been greatly enhanced through the application of molecular techniques, such as genome sequencing. The sequencing of numerous bacterioplankton genomes has revealed that many are capable of using thiosulfate, a marine sulfur compound, as a supplementary energy source. This means that those bacterioplankton that use thiosulfate could grow faster and more efficiently.This research will determine if thiosulfate is a feasible supplementary energy source for marine bacterioplankton. A preliminary assessment of thiosulfate concentrations and thiosulfate utilisation gene activity will be made at an established coastal sampling station in the English Channel. This information will be used to design laboratory experiments using a model bacterioplankton. The laboratory experiments will determine the physiological and metabolic effects of thiosulfate under natural conditions. This research will improve our understanding of how the bacterioplankton function. The knowledge will be valuable to other marine scientists interested in biogeochemical cycling, especially the carbon cycle. The data will also be useful to scientists sequencing marine bacterial genomes because it validates their observations of prevalent thiosulfate utilisation genes.