Investigating 'cross-talk' between pathogenic Vibrio and phytoplankton, and implications for human health under climate change.(Ref:4297)

人类之间的交流使我们能够在社会中生活在一起。沟通的中断可能导致冲突和社会结构的崩溃。然而，交流并不局限于人类。化学线索和信号，统称为信息化学物质(图1)，广泛地被生活在陆地和海洋上的生物用来在一个物种内的个人之间或不同物种之间进行交流。例如，信天翁使用一种名为DMS(二甲基硫化物)的简单化学信号来跟踪它们以浮游动物、鱿鱼、鱼甚至其他鸟类为食的高产地区！我们从陆地生态系统知道，气候变化的压力因素，如变暖，可以改变信息化学物质的生产和组成，对自然生态系统产生深远的负面影响。虽然这种化学交流目前在海洋中运作良好，但我们不知道在气候变化下海洋生物将如何交流！浮游植物，我们呼吸的50%氧气的制造者，也使用信息化学物质与其他生物‘交谈’，比如微生物，包括弧菌等病原体，它们可以阻止或吸引浮游植物。有几种弧菌是已知可引起水传播疾病的人类病原体，例如引起霍乱的霍乱弧菌。气候变化预计会加剧这个问题，对人类健康构成更大的威胁。在这个项目中，你将进行一系列新颖的实验，支持信息化学物质介导的浮游植物与弧菌的关系，并探索气候变化引发的压力因素(如温度、盐度和降水)如何改变浮游植物与弧菌的相互作用。结果将使我们能够了解浮游植物与致病海洋细菌相互作用的动态，特别是微生物，如弧菌，这些微生物在气候变化的推动下，在欧洲和其他更高纬度地区代表着一种新的疾病威胁。项目目标和方法：化学富集层(图2)，即包裹浮游植物细胞的微型粘液区，代表了藻类和其他生物之间的相互作用由渗出的化学物质控制的市场。在这个博士学位中，你将从事开创性的研究，以确定弧菌与浮游植物之间的联系是如何由信息化学物质控制的。你将从事生态学、微生物学、化学、生理学和气候变化研究的接口工作，研究新的问题，例如(I)哪些信息化学物质能够使浮游植物与选定的弧菌物种产生积极和消极的‘串扰’；(Ii)在这种联系过程中整个化学景观是如何出现的；以及(Iii)这种联系如何对气候变化诱导的压力做出反应。你将在一个高度跨学科的国际团队(英国和德国)工作，并使用不同的先进技术从浮游植物培养物中分离抗弧菌和亲弧菌化合物，并将接受使用不同光谱方法的培训。您将与Georg Pohnert(德国Max Plank化学生态研究所)合作，使用最新的“组学”技术，如非靶向全细胞和单细胞代谢组学。你还将进行实验室培养，以量化平均气温上升等应激源对弧菌-浮游植物协会的影响。数据将使用多元统计进行分析。你将被允许自由和灵活地修改项目的设计和方向，这取决于你的兴趣和技能，在项目目标的广泛范围内。

Communication amongst humans allows us to live together in societies. Breakdowns in communication can lead to conflicts and a breakdown of society's structures. However, communication is not limited to humans. Chemical cues and signals, collectively called infochemicals (Fig. 1), are widely used by organisms living on land and sea to communicate between individuals within a species or between different species. For example, albatrosses use a simple chemical cue called DMS (dimethyl sulphide) to track highly productive areas where they forage on zooplankton, squid, fish, and even other birds!We know from terrestrial ecosystems that climate change stressors such as warming can alter the production and composition of infochemicals with profound negative effects on natural ecosystems. Although this chemical communication currently works well in the ocean, we do not know how marine organisms will communicate under climate change!Phytoplankton, the producers of 50% oxygen we breathe, also use infochemicals to 'talk' to other organisms like microbes, including pathogens such as Vibrio which can be either deterred or attracted towards phytoplankton. Several Vibrio species are human pathogens known to cause waterborne diseases, e.g. Vibrio cholerae responsible for cholera. Climate change is predicted to escalate this problem, posing increased threat to human health.In this project you will conduct a novel set of experiments underpinning phytoplankton-Vibrio relationships mediated by infochemicals, and explore how climate change induced stressors such as temperature, salinity and precipitation might change phytoplankton-Vibrio interactions. Results will enable us to understand dynamics of phytoplankton-pathogenic marine bacteria interaction, in particular microbes such as Vibrios that represent an emerging disease threat in Europe and other higher latitudes, driven by climate change.Project Aims and Methods:The chemically enriched phycosphere (Fig 2), the microscale mucous region enveloping phytoplankton cells, represents the marketplace where interactions between algae and other organisms are controlled by exuded chemicals. In this PhD, you will undertake pioneering research to establish how the association of Vibrio with phytoplankton are controlled by infochemicals. You will work at the interface of ecology, microbiology, chemistry, physiology and climate change research investigating novel questions such as (i) which infochemicals enable positive and negative 'cross-talk' of phytoplankton with selected Vibrio species; (ii) how the entire chemical landscape appears during such associations; and (iii) how such association changes in response to climate-change-induced stressors.You will work in a highly interdisciplinary international team (UK and Germany) and use different advanced techniques to isolate anti- and pro-Vibrio compounds from phytoplankton cultures and will be trained to use different spectroscopy methods. You will collaborate with Georg Pohnert (Max Plank Institute of Chemical Ecology, Germany) to use latest 'omics' techniques such as untargeted whole cell and single cell metabolomics. You will also perform laboratory incubations to quantify the effect of stressors such as mean temperature rise on the Vibrio-phytoplankton association. Data will be analyzed using multivariate statistics. You will be allowed freedom and flexibility to modify the project design and direction, depending on your interests and skills, within the broad scope of the project's aims.