Comparative community genome analysis of eastern north Pacific coastal and open ocean oxygen minimum zones

我们正在提交这项提案，作为NSERC特别战略项目赠款倡议下健康环境和生态系统目标区的一部分。我们的具体研究主题是海洋氧气最小区域(OMZ)背景下的生态系统适应、干预和建模。海洋保护区是溶解氧浓度较低的地区，在世界海洋内的生物地球化学循环中发挥着重要作用。它们是氮气的主要汇，也是温室气体二氧化碳和一氧化二氮的来源。因此，与这些系统相关的微生物介导的生物活动影响着深海蓝海的生产力和全球气候平衡。越来越多的证据表明，海洋变暖趋势将降低东北太平洋沿海和内陆地区的溶解氧浓度，导致低氧边界层扩大。由于生境丧失和营养循环的变化，这种扩张将对沿海底栖生态系统和海洋渔业的生产力产生直接影响。为了理解、应对或缓解这些转变，必须开展与海洋物理和化学参数相关的微生物动态监测和建模研究。为此，我们正在寻求NSERC的支持，以绘制在东北太平洋沿海和开阔海洋OMZ中发现的本土微生物群落的基因组多样性。这项研究计划的目标是为了解全球海洋OMZ的生物地球化学过程提供坚实的比较基因组学基础，此外，还将识别和描述对东北太平洋东部碳和氮代谢做出贡献的关键微生物和生化途径。

We are submitting this proposal as part of the Healthy Environment and Ecosystem target area under the special NSERC Strategic project grant initiative. Our specific research topic is Ecosystem Adaptation, Interventions and Modeling in the context of marine oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). OMZs are areas of low dissolved oxygen concentrations that play a major role in biogeochemical cycling within the world's oceans. They are major sinks for nitrogen and sources for the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Therefore, microbial mediated biological activity associated with these systems impacts the productivity of the deep blue sea and global climate balance. There is increasing evidence that ocean warming trends will decrease dissolved oxygen concentrations within the coastal and interior regions of the Eastern North Pacific causing an expansion of the hypoxic boundary layer. This expansion will have a direct effect on coastal benthic ecosystems and the productivity of marine fisheries due to habitat loss and changes in nutrient cycling. In order to understand, respond to, or mitigate these transitions it is imperative that studies to monitor and model microbial dynamics in relation to physical and chemical oceanographic parameters be put into place. To this end, we are seeking support from NSERC to chart the genomic diversity of indigenous microbial communities found in coastal and open ocean OMZs in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean. The goals of this research program promise to provide a solid comparative genomic foundation for understanding the biogeochemical processes at work in marine OMZs around the globe, in addition to identifying and describing the key microbial players and biochemical pathways contributing to carbon and nitrogen metabolism within the Eastern North Pacific Ocean.