Elucidating niche adaptation mechanisms in a ubiquitous marine phototroph: a targeted 'omics approach

阐明普遍存在的海洋光养生物的生态位适应机制：有针对性的“组学方法”

基本信息

批准号：
NE/I00985X/1
负责人：
David Scanlan
金额：
$ 47.27万
依托单位：
University of Warwick
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2011
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2011 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FI00985X%2F1
关键词：
Elucidating niche adaptation mechanisms ubiquitous

项目摘要

The oceans play a major role in determining the world's climate. In part this is due to the production of oxygen and the consumption of carbon dioxide by very small, single celled organisms, which are referred to as the photosynthetic picoplankton. Marine cyanobacteria of the closely-related genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are the prokaryotic components of the photosynthetic picoplankton. Current and previous work in my lab has demonstrated that the in situ community structure of these organisms is fairly complex, with specific ecotypes or lineages occupying different niches to populate the world's oceans, allowing them to grow and photosynthesise under a broad range of environmental conditions. Whilst such molecular ecological studies can effectively map the spatial distributions of specific genotypes, the factors that dictate this global community structure are still poorly defined. This is important because changes in dominant picocyanobacterial lineages indicate major domain shifts in planktonic ecosystems and by observing and interpreting their distributions and physiological states we are essentially assessing changes in the rates of biogeochemical cycles. To more completely understand the molecular basis of this niche adaptation we propose here to undertake a molecular approach focusing on marine Synechococcus so as to identify the role that specific gene sets play in defining the ecological 'distinctness' of these lineages. The proposed project will thus seek to provide a more fundamental understanding of how the environment (i.e. evolutionary pressure) shapes the population genome of an important marine phototroph, so facilitiating its success within its preferred ecological niche. Moreover, via analysis of the types (& abundance) of genes expressed in specific environments the project will potentially provide important new information on the key environmental parameters that dictate the growth rate and yield of these organisms, information which is critical for defining controls on marine photosynthesis.

海洋在决定世界气候方面发挥着重要作用。部分原因是非常小的单细胞生物（被称为光合超微型浮游生物）产生氧气并消耗二氧化碳。密切相关的原绿球藻属和聚球藻属的海洋蓝藻是光合超微型浮游生物的原核成分。我实验室当前和之前的工作表明，这些生物体的原位群落结构相当复杂，特定的生态类型或谱系占据不同的生态位，在世界海洋中繁殖，使它们能够在广泛的环境条件下生长和进行光合作用。虽然此类分子生态研究可以有效地绘制特定基因型的空间分布图，但决定这种全球群落结构的因素仍然不清楚。这很重要，因为优势微微蓝细菌谱系的变化表明浮游生态系统的主要领域变化，通过观察和解释它们的分布和生理状态，我们实质上是在评估生物地球化学循环速率的变化。为了更全面地了解这种生态位适应的分子基础，我们在此建议采取一种专注于海洋聚球藻的分子方法，以确定特定基因组在定义这些谱系的生态“独特性”中所起的作用。因此，拟议的项目将寻求对环境（即进化压力）如何塑造重要海洋光养生物的种群基因组提供更基本的了解，从而促进其在其首选的生态位内取得成功。此外，通过分析特定环境中表达的基因类型（和丰度），该项目将有可能提供有关决定这些生物体生长速度和产量的关键环境参数的重要新信息，这些信息对于确定海洋控制措施至关重要光合作用。