MRI: Acquisition of a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer for Marine Biogeochemical Research

MRI：购买核磁共振波谱仪用于海洋生物地球化学研究

• 批准号: 1828581
• 负责人: Daniel Repeta
• 金额: $ 62.01万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2020-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1828581&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Nuclear; Magnetic; Resonance

Ocean productivity, the health of our planet, and many of the resources foundational to our modern society, are in large part by-products by how very tiny, single celled microbes manufacture and degrade organic compounds in the ocean. Each day ocean microbes synthesize enormous quantities of proteins, sugars, and fats. In doing so, they manufacture a large share of the oxygen we breathe, they remove harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and they serve as food for many commercially important species of marine fish and crustaceans. Microbes "clean" seawater of pollutants, and serve as the base of marine ecosystems. However, marine microbes live a very competitive environment. The nutrients that microbes need to grow and thrive are extremely scarce, and nutrient cycling is extraordinarily efficient. Even small disturbances in microbial nutrient cycles can have major consequences; oxygen in seawater can disappear, and ecosystems can collapse. To understand how microbial cycles operate, we need to identify and track organic compounds and nutrients that are key to sustaining microbial life. Here we request funds to refurbish and modernize a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer for use in a broad suite of marine biogeochemical studies designed to understand microbial nutrient cycles. The instrument will allow a number of scientists, students and staff at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to identify key organic nutrient compounds that microbes use to extract nutrients from seawater, fend off predation, and shield themselves from harmful UV radiation. The instrument will also be critical to training the next generation of marine scientists through the WHOI postdoctoral and summer student fellowship programs, and the WHOI/MIT Joint Graduate Program in ocean sciences.Iron and phosphorus are two nutrients that limit and shape marine microbial communities across large tracts of the ocean. The chemical forms of marine iron and phosphorus are largely unknown, and over the next few years, we propose use the NMR spectroscopy to identify iron, copper, cobalt, and phosphorus containing organic compounds. Initial results have allowed us to show that the degradation of organic phosphonates is a source of atmospheric methane and ethylene, and that siderophores, compounds synthesized by marine microbes to extract iron from the environment, are actively produced in regions of the ocean where iron is scarce. We will continue this work through the US GEOTRACES program, which will measure trace metal and nutrient abundances across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Tahiti. Many organic compounds and organic nutrients are supplied by dust and river discharge into ocean margins. Determining the chemical identity of terrestrial organic matter entering the ocean, and its availability to marine microbial communities is key to understanding microbial nutrient cycles. A second focus of our research over the next few years will be in using enhanced NMR techniques to better characterize the nature and transformations of terrestrial organic matter as it enters the ocean.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.

海洋生产力、地球的健康以及现代社会的许多基础资源在很大程度上都是非常微小的单细胞微生物在海洋中制造和降解有机化合物的副产品。 海洋微生物每天都会合成大量的蛋白质、糖和脂肪。 在此过程中，它们制造了我们呼吸的大部分氧气，清除了大气中有害的二氧化碳，并成为许多具有重要商业价值的海洋鱼类和甲壳类动物的食物。 微生物“净化”海水中的污染物，是海洋生态系统的基础。 然而，海洋微生物生活在一个竞争非常激烈的环境中。 微生物生长和繁衍所需的养分极其稀缺，而养分循环却异常高效。 即使微生物营养循环中的微小干扰也会产生重大后果。海水中的氧气可能消失，生态系统可能崩溃。 为了了解微生物循环如何运作，我们需要识别和追踪对于维持微生物生命至关重要的有机化合物和营养物质。 在此，我们请求资金对核磁共振 (NMR) 波谱仪进行翻新和现代化改造，以用于旨在了解微生物营养循环的广泛海洋生物地球化学研究。 该仪器将使伍兹霍尔海洋研究所 (WHOI) 的许多科学家、学生和工作人员能够识别微生物用来从海水中提取营养、抵御捕食并保护自身免受有害紫外线辐射的关键有机营养化合物。 该仪器对于通过 WHOI 博士后和暑期学生奖学金项目以及 WHOI/麻省理工学院海洋科学联合研究生项目培训下一代海洋科学家也至关重要。铁和磷是限制和塑造海洋微生物群落的两种营养素。大片海洋。 海洋铁和磷的化学形式在很大程度上是未知的，在接下来的几年中，我们建议使用核磁共振波谱来识别含有机化合物的铁、铜、钴和磷。 初步结果使我们能够表明，有机膦酸盐的降解是大气中甲烷和乙烯的来源，而铁载体（海洋微生物合成的化合物，用于从环境中提取铁）在缺铁的海洋区域积极产生。 我们将通过美国 GEOTRACES 计划继续这项工作，该计划将测量从阿拉斯加到塔希提岛整个太平洋的痕量金属和营养物丰度。 许多有机化合物和有机营养物是由灰尘和河流排放到海洋边缘提供的。 确定进入海洋的陆地有机物的化学特性及其对海洋微生物群落的可用性是了解微生物营养循环的关键。 未来几年我们研究的第二个重点将是使用增强的核磁共振技术来更好地表征陆地有机物进入海洋时的性质和转变。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持利用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准。