RUI: Collaborative Research: Quantifying the role of microbial extracellular vesicles in marine dissolved organic matter production and consumption

RUI：合作研究：量化微生物细胞外囊泡在海洋溶解有机物生产和消耗中的作用

• 批准号: 2049004
• 负责人: Steven Biller
• 金额: $ 56.06万
• 依托单位: Wellesley College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049004&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Collaborative; Research; Quantifying; role

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Microbial production and consumption of organic carbon play critical roles in the marine food web and global carbon cycling. Bacteria release organic matter in a variety of chemical forms and in diverse contexts, ranging from individual molecules to small aggregates and larger biological particles. In recent years we have come to understand that most, if not all, marine microbes release nanoscale structures called extracellular vesicles from their surfaces. These discrete particles, which are abundant in the oceans, are capable of transporting multiple classes of organic molecules between organisms and can serve as a potential nutrient source for other microbes. Extracellular vesicles thus represent a potentially important component of marine microbial food webs, but the magnitude and dynamics of this contribution are unknown. Further, the packaging of material within vesicles may influence the accessibility of this organic material as compared with truly ‘dissolved’ substances to different groups of marine organisms, potentially biasing nutrient exchanges. Broader impacts of this work is providing hands-on research experiences for female undergraduate students - including those from groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields - and training in data analysis tools.The goal of this project is to advance the understanding of the role that extracellular vesicles play in marine dissolved organic carbon pools and microbial food webs. To determine the contribution of vesicles to organic matter release by marine microbes, the investigators are quantifying the fraction of excreted carbon and nitrogen associated with vesicles released by multiple marine cyanobacteria and heterotrophs. The project is examining how vesicles are ‘consumed’ by heterotrophs to calculate a mass balance of vesicle utilization and produce detailed gene expression data to explore how cells respond to the presence of vesicles. Finally, experiments with coastal and oligotrophic marine communities are providing insights into which organisms utilize vesicles in the field, and whether they are broadly accessible to all microbes or are instead preferentially consumed by a subset of microbes. Collectively, these experiments are opening up a new area of research into the mechanisms underlying the microbial loop and provide foundational insights into the roles of extracellular vesicles in ocean ecosystems.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.

该奖项的全部或部分资金来源于《2021 年美国救援计划法案》（公法 117-2）。微生物生产和消耗有机碳在海洋食物网和全球碳循环中发挥着关键作用。近年来，我们逐渐认识到，大多数（如果不是全部）海洋微生物都会释放出称为细胞外的纳米级结构。这些在海洋中丰富的离散颗粒能够在生物体之间运输多种有机分子，并且可以作为其他微生物的潜在营养源，因此是海洋微生物的潜在重要组成部分。食物网，但这种贡献的大小和动态尚不清楚，此外，与真正“溶解”的物质相比，囊泡内的材料包装可能会影响不同海洋生物群体对这种有机材料的可及性。这项工作的更广泛影响是为女本科生（包括那些在 STEM 领域历史上代表性不足的群体）提供实践研究经验，以及数据分析工具的培训。该项目的目标是增进对细胞外囊泡在海洋溶解有机碳库和微生物食物网中发挥的作用为了确定囊泡对海洋微生物释放有机物的贡献，研究人员正在量化排出的碳和氮的比例。与多种海洋蓝细菌和异养生物释放的囊泡相关，该项目正在研究异养生物如何“消耗”囊泡，以计算囊泡利用的质量平衡并产生详细的基因表达数据，以探索细胞如何响应囊泡的存在。对沿海和寡营养海洋群落进行的实验正在提供有关哪些生物体在野外利用囊泡的见解，以及它们是否可以被所有微生物广泛接触或优先被消耗总的来说，这些实验开辟了微生物循环机制的新研究领域，并为细胞外囊泡在海洋生态系统中的作用提供了基础见解。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并已获得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。