Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P003826/1
Stable Isotope Probing with Resonance Raman Cell Sorting to profile influence of ocean acidification on microbial carbon fixation
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor H Yin, University of Glasgow, School of Engineering
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr U Ijaz, University of Glasgow, School of Engineering
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor M Cusack, University of Stirling, Biological and Environmental Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Glasgow, School of Engineering
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Environmental Genomics
- Bacterial genomics
- Technol. for Environ. Appl.
- Raman spectroscopy
- Tools for the biosciences
- Microfluidics (biol. appl.)
- Abstract:
- When we think of photosynthesis we normally think of trees and green plants converting carbon dioxide into life giving oxygen. However, there is a panoply of other organisms that also perform this function equally efficiently, each having adapted to their own individual environment. More than 70% of Earth's surface is covered by ocean where photosynthetic micro-organisms are the major primary producers and play a critical role in CO2-fixation. A technique to determine the influence of environmental change on these organisms at the base of the food chain will be a wide-ranging asset in the environmental science toolkit. However, a major hurdle in identifying the influence of environmental factors is that the vast majority of microbes in natural environments cannot be cultivated. The enormous diversity of photosynthetic microbes in nature remains unknown. In a timely approach that overcomes the need to cultivate the marine micro-organisms, we will combine emerging single-cell sorting and metagenomic techniques to develop an enabling technology to investigate the influence of environmental factors on microbial communities by linking physiological activities of individual micro-organisms with community diversity and function. As a proof of concept, within this project, we will focus on the effect of ocean acidification (OA) on marine photosynthetic micro-organisms because of concerns over the global impact of OA. Studies thus far do not report a consistent OA effect on photosynthetic micro-organisms with different responses from different taxonomic groups. Since nearly all photosynthetic micro-organisms contain carotenoids, carotenoids could be used to as an internal biomarker to identify photosynthetic micro-organisms. By providing micro-organisms with stable isotope labelled 13CO2 as the carbon source, using Raman spectroscopy, we can identify individual cells that are actively fixing CO2. Here we will combine this technique with Raman activated single cell sorting to screen and isolate community members based on a quantitative measure of CO2 fixation activity of individual cells. Metagenomic analyses of these functionally sorted cells will further identify the species in each category. By developing this technology, we will address the following specific questions: 1. To what extend will OA affect the CO2 fixation activities of photosynthetic microorganisms? 2. Which microorganisms and their CO2 fixation activities are affected by OA? 3. What changes to the community will come about as a consequence of question 1&2? 4. Which enzymes are implicated in optimal CO2 fixation activities of photosynthetic microorganisms? While this research will specifically answers questions on the influence of OA that underpin major issues such as food security and aquaculture, the approach can serve as a generic technique to be applied widely in environmental sciences to determine the influence of any agent of environmental change.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P003826/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed (RP) - NR1
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Tech Proof of Concept
This grant award has a total value of £141,110
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £14,677 | £40,533 | £11,107 | £13,876 | £37,907 | £4,839 | £18,172 |
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