Phytoplankton Molecular Physiology

海洋浮游植物是一种漂浮的光合作用生物，来自至少10个主要的进化谱系。它们的光合作用由高度保守的蛋白质复合体系统介导，支撑着碳和氮的生物地球化学循环。因此，这些浮游植物共同面临着平衡光捕捉和新陈代谢的挑战。浮游植物现在面临着二氧化碳、营养物质、温度和冰盖的前所未有的变化，这反过来又改变了它们的光环境和竞争相互作用。我们使用生理和分子分析来了解不同的浮游植物如何分配它们的资源来应对气候变化。 我们的科学方法建立在我们不断增长的专业知识的基础上： I)浮游植物的生理分析，包括叶绿素荧光、全细胞吸光度、产氧量和确定的培养系统。 二)开发和表征以抗体为基础的系统和可靠的提取方案，以定量分析浮游植物的蛋白质成分。 我们的团队结合这些专业知识，对主要浮游植物种群的驯化过程、资源分配和分子组织产生洞察力。我们与生物模型师合作，了解浮游植物之间的资源分配和竞争，我们通过参与海洋巡航来测试这一点。我们培训HQP和来访的科学家，他们进入基础研究、工业研究、科学政策和健康科学的职位。我们的NSERC Discovery研究计划还为技术转让提供了关键的智力基础，这些技术转让产生了量化蛋白质的系统，这些蛋白质现在出口到世界各地。

Marine phytoplankton are floating photosynthetic organisms drawn from at least 10 major evolutionary lineages. Their photosynthesis, mediated by a system of highly conserved protein complexes, underpins biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. These phytoplankton thus share the challenge of balancing light capture with metabolism. Phytoplankton now face unprecedented changes in CO2, nutrients, temperature, and ice cover, which in turn alter their light environment and competitive interactions. We use physiological and molecular analyses to understand how diverse phytoplankton allocate their resources to respond to climate change. Our Scientific Approach builds upon our growing expertises in: i) Physiological analyses of phytoplankton, including chlorophyll fluorescence, whole cell absorbance, oxygen production and defined culturing systems. ii) Developing and characterizing antibody-based systems and robust extraction protocols for quantitative analyses of the protein compositions of phytoplankton. Our team combines this expertise to generate insights into the acclimation processes, resource allocations and molecular organization of major phytoplankton groups. We collaborate with biological modelers to understand resource allocations and competition across phytoplankton, which we test through our participation in oceanographic cruises. We train HQP and visiting scientists who proceed to positions in basic research, industrial research, science policy and health sciences. Our NSERC Discovery research program also provides the key intellectual substrate for technology transfers that generate systems for quantifying proteins that are now exported around the world.