Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/L006448/1
Microbial degradation of dimethylsulfoxide in the marine environment
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor H Schaefer, University of Warwick, School of Life Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor Y Chen, University of Birmingham, Sch of Biosciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Warwick, School of Life Sciences
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Oceanic Studies
- Analytical Science
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Environmental Microbiology
- Environmental Genomics
- Abstract:
- Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) is a chemical with a wide range of applications. It is a widely used solvent, for instance in pharmaceutical applications, and a waste product of the paper milling industry. It also occurs naturally in a range of fruits, like raspberries, and vegetables. However, DMSO is also a compound that is part of the natural sulphur cycle. Sulphur is an essential element for all life, and in its organic form is a component of all proteins such as the amino acids cysteine and methionine. DMSO is an organic sulphur compound found everywhere in our oceans, and is produced by a number of natural biological and chemical processes. DMSO is important because it is both a source and a sink for a climate-cooling gas called dimethyl sulfide (DMS). DMS is a component of the smell of the seaside. Around 300 million tons of DMS are made each year by marine microorganisms. Some of this DMS is released into the atmosphere above the oceans, where it reacts in air to compounds that seed clouds, which is suggested influences weather and climate. When it rains, sulphur compounds are deposited back into the soils of our continents. However the majority of the DMS formed in the oceans is thought not to be released to the atmosphere, but rather to be converted to DMSO, and thus stays in seawater. However what happens to this DMSO largely remains a mystery, but it has been suggested that it can be converted back to DMS, and thus be a source for climatically relevant sulphur emissions to the atmosphere. What we do know is that DMSO is commonly the most abundant organic sulphur compound in the oceans, and represents a major pool of the essential life elements sulphur and carbon. The research to be carried out in this proposal is focused on firstly finding out what happens to DMSO in seawater. We have some preliminary evidence, found using radiolabelled DMSO as a tracer, that it is degraded by microorganisms who both incorporate its carbon into their biomass for growth purposes, and degrade it to carbon dioxide. However we also think that perhaps other microbes could transfer DMSO back to DMS, and even use its sulphur as an essential element. Therefore in this proposal we have designed a series of different tracer experiments to find out which processes occur in our seas, how important they are and how fast they happen. We will also put names to the microbes using DMSO, and find out which metabolic pathways are involved. We will study these microbial DMSO transformations in the English Channel at a station called L4. This station is sampled weekly as part of the Western Channel Observatory which is coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory. This is a long-standing time series site for which data on phytoplankton diversity, abundance, temperature, nutrient dynamics and bacterial diversity are also measured and will be made freely available to this project (http://www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk). Given the important role of DMSO and its related compound DMS, identifying the populations and pathways of DMSO removal from seawater will provide key information that will improve our future understanding of the complex sulphur cycle and how it influences our climate.
- Period of Award:
- 31 Mar 2014 - 30 Sep 2017
- Value:
- £380,542 Lead Split Award
Authorised funds only
- NERC Reference:
- NE/L006448/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant (FEC)
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £380,542
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £67,334 | £101,561 | £21,431 | £106,280 | £48,580 | £10,570 | £24,787 |
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