RII Track-4: Peering into Nature's Glass Boxes - using nano-Raman Spectroscopy to answer Novel Questions in Diatom-focused Environmental Research

RII Track-4：窥探大自然的玻璃盒 - 使用纳米拉曼光谱回答以硅藻为重点的环境研究中的新问题

• 批准号: 1833053
• 负责人: Jeffrey Krause
• 金额: $ 12.13万
• 依托单位: Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium
• 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 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1833053&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; Peering; into; Nature

Nontechnical DescriptionDiatoms are abundant microscopic oceanic 'plants' which have a protective shell made of glass. Despite their small size, diatoms' collective importance in marine ecosystems is immense. They produce as much oxygen globally as all the rain forests combined. Their glass shell (i.e. diatomaceous earth) also has many industrial applications. Unlike land plants which grow relatively slow, diatom biomass accumulates fast and is rapidly recycled in seawater. The recycling of diatom biomass releases 5-10 billion metric tons of carbon back into the ocean annually -a quantity of carbon which exceeds global fossil-fuel emissions. This project will use state-of-the-art technology to examine the properties of the glass shell and determine how they affect diatom-biomass recycling. This technology uses single-cell analysis, instead of traditional methods which require thousands of cells, thereby enabling new understanding and insight of single-cell material composition and structure. This project will help entrench this technology into diatom-based research and provide training for a Ph.D. student. The project collaboration with Stony Brook University based scientist will help researchers at the Alabama-based Dauphin Island Sea Lab personnel to emerge as leaders in their subfields. Also considering the vast industrial application for diatomaceous earth, these approaches may be useful for industry. This expertise will enable future work to serve the unique environmental research needs in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana).Technical DescriptionDiatoms are aquatic phytoplankton, characterized by their silica shell, which account for 20-40% of marine primary production. Post-mortem silica dissolution liberates diatom organic matter within days or weeks after production, this equates to 5-10 Pg of carbon being recycled back into the ocean annually -a quantity of carbon which exceeds global fossil-fuel emissions. Because the long-term fate of diatom organic matter is governed in part by whether their shell dissolves, this project aims to understand how organic matter within diatom silica affects its dissolution. This project will move away from reliance on current methods (which require thousands of cells) and examine processes at the single-cell level. Raman spectroscopy can provide detailed single-cell information on material composition and structure. Sample analyses will be done at the NARMIL facility at Stony Brook University. This facility houses the state-of-the-art instrumentation necessary to test hypotheses related to understanding how silica-encased organic matter is affected by diatom growth conditions and whether sediment-preserved diatoms share common organic-matter traits. This project will have broader impact beyond its duration. The PI's group will build a methodological tool set that has yet to be fully utilized in his subfield and considering the vast industrial application of diatom silica (diatomaceous earth) these approaches may be useful for industry. A Ph.D. student will be trained in these methods and analyses. This collaboration will also foster data set development and publications which will enable the Alabama-based PI to be competitive for future proposals by applying these approaches to address novel questions in the northern Gulf of Mexico and beyond.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.

非技术描述diatoms是丰富的微观海洋“植物”，具有由玻璃制成的保护壳。 尽管体积很小，但硅藻在海洋生态系统中的集体重要性是巨大的。 它们在全球产生的氧气与所有雨林的总和一样。 他们的玻璃外壳（即硅藻土）也有许多工业应用。 与陆地植物相对较慢不同，硅藻生物质会迅速积累，并在海水中迅速回收。 硅藻生物质的回收每年将5-100亿吨碳释放回海洋 - 一定数量的碳超过全球化石燃料的排放。 该项目将使用最先进的技术来检查玻璃外壳的特性，并确定它们如何影响硅藻 - 生物量回收。 该技术使用单细胞分析，而不是需要数千个单元格的传统方法，从而可以对单细胞材料组成和结构进行新的理解和见解。 该项目将帮助将该技术纳入基于硅藻的研究中，并为博士学位提供培训。学生。 该项目与基于Stony Brook大学的科学家合作将帮助总部位于阿拉巴马州Dauphin Island Sea Lab人员的研究人员成为其子领域的领导者。同样，考虑到巨大的硅藻土工业应用，这些方法可能对工业有用。 这种专业知识将使未来的工作能够满足墨西哥北部海湾（阿拉巴马州，密西西比州，路易斯安那州）的独特环境研究需求。技术描述diotoms是水生浮游植物，其特征是其硅壳，占海洋初级生产的20-40％。 验尸后二氧化硅溶解在生产后几天或几周内解放了硅藻有机物，每年将5-10 pg碳回收回海洋 - 超过全球化石燃料排放的碳数量。 由于硅藻有机物的长期命运部分受其壳是否溶解来支配，因此该项目旨在了解硅藻硅胶中的有机物质如何影响其溶解。 该项目将摆脱对当前方法（需要数千个单元格）的依赖，并在单细胞级别检查过程。 拉曼光谱可以提供有关材料组成和结构的详细单细胞信息。 样本分析将在Stony Brook大学的Narmil设施进行。 该设施容纳了与了解硅藻有机物如何受硅藻生长条件影响以及沉积物保存的硅藻有关的基于二氧化硅原始的有机物的最新仪器。 该项目将在其持续时间内产生更大的影响。 PI的小组将建立一个方法论工具集，该工具集尚未在其子场中充分利用，并考虑到硅藻硅（硅藻土）的大量工业应用这些方法可能对行业有用。 博士学生将接受这些方法和分析的培训。 这项合作还将促进数据集开发和出版物，这将使基于阿拉巴马州的PI通过采用这些方法来解决未来的建议，以解决墨西哥北部及其他地区的新颖问题。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用该基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得的支持。

项目成果

Tear Down the Fluorescent Curtain: A New Fluorescence Suppression Method for Raman Microspectroscopic Analyses

• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52321-3
• 发表时间: 2019-10
• 期刊: Scientific Reports
• 影响因子: 4.6
• 作者: E. Yakubovskaya;Tatiana Zaliznyak;Joaquín Martínez Martínez-Joaquín-Martínez-Martínez-47930098;G. Taylor