A microbial game of thrones - from theory to application

微生物的权力游戏——从理论到应用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05895
• 负责人: Strous, Marc
• 金额: $ 3.57万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=613809
• 关键词: microbial; game; thrones; theory; application

Bacteria are tiny microbes, typically a hundred times smaller than the width of a human hair, but together they still make up a large part of all living matter on Earth. They are also largely responsible for the cycling of the chemical elements on our planet. They are a key component in understanding the consequences of global warming – brought about mainly by fossil fuel burning. At the molecular level, bacteria display much more biodiversity than animals or plants. In natural ecosystems they form highly complex and dynamic communities. The ecology of these communities has so far defied the development of functional theory that can be used to understand the cycling of the elements in nature, or to rationally design bacterial communities to do useful things like production of renewable energy to mitigate global change. Two competing ecological perspectives are known as “niche” and “neutral” theory. The “niche” perspective holds that each bacterium has its proper place in nature and will outperform its competitors when the environment favours its specific properties. The “neutral” perspective holds that many different species have similar properties and the ecological success of any single species is determined by chance processes. However, neither perspective can explain general observations that microbial communities are dominated by only a handful of bacteria (consistent with “niche” theory) yet show apparently random turnover of these winners (the microbial game of thrones, consistent with “neutral” theory). Adopting concepts from the economical sciences, the proposed research investigates whether the “niche” and “neutral” perspectives can be unified into an overarching theory for microbial ecology that can explain those general observations. My central premise is that in microbial ecology there exists a positive relationship between population size and ecological fitness, brought about by micro-evolution on short timescales. This premise is analogous to the positive relationship between wealth and returns on wealth, that economists use to explain the very high inequality in wealth distributions. This NSERC discovery research aims to generate experimental support for this new theory – and to apply it, by contributing to a robust and cost-effective process for renewable bio-energy production. The program's team will perform long-term continuous cultivation of microbial communities under stable conditions, while monitoring population dynamics with next generation DNA sequencing technology. Together, these approaches enable me to assess potential fitness benefits associated with newly evolved biodiversity. If successful, the research will make a groundbreaking contribution to microbial ecology and contribute to a real-world problem of high societal relevance - an economically feasible process for sustainable energy production.

细菌是微小的微生物，典型的时间是人类头发的宽度，但在地球上仍然是构成的。主要是通过化石燃料燃烧。 在分子水平上，这些群落的生物多样性是迄今为止的生态。 Prike生产可再生能源以减轻全球变化。 两个竞争的生态学观点被称为“中性”理论。通过机会过程确定的单个SIS可以解释一般的观察社区，仅由少数Bactteria（Nike）（理论）OW显然是这些获奖者的随机营业率（符合“中性”理论的微生物游戏）。 拟议的研究采用了经济学的概念，调查了“利基市场”和“中性”是否可以解释这些普遍观察的总体遗传学，这是人口规模和生态适应性之间的积极关系。经济学家用来解释财富分配中非常高的询问性，财富与回报之间的积极关系。 这种NSERC的发现旨在通过为可再生生物能量生产提供强大的过程来为理论产生实验支持。 DNA测序技术与新进化的生物多样性相关。 如果成功的话，这是对高社会社会生产的真实世界问题的开创性贡献 - 可持续能源生产的经济可行过程。