Award Abstract # 1948104
Effects of Climate Change Variables on Microbial Autotroph-Heterotroph Carbon Flux

NSF Org: OCE
Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.
Initial Amendment Date: March 27, 2020
Latest Amendment Date: November 7, 2022
Award Number: 1948104
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Cynthia Suchman
csuchman@nsf.gov
 (703)292-2092
OCE
 Division Of Ocean Sciences
GEO
 Directorate For Geosciences
Start Date: April 1, 2020
End Date: March 31, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $988,916.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $988,916.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2020 = $988,916.00
History of Investigator:
  • Mary Ann Moran (Principal Investigator)
    mmoran@uga.edu
  • Arthur Edison (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Brian Hopkinson (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Mary Ann Moran (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
310 E CAMPUS RD RM 409
ATHENS
GA  US  30602-1589
(706)542-5939
Sponsor Congressional District: 10
Primary Place of Performance: University of Georgia
310 East Campus Rd
Athens
GA  US  30602-1589
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
10
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): NMJHD63STRC5
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Primary Program Source: 01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 006Z, 1382, 1389, 8811, 9117
Program Element Code(s): 1650
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

Phytoplankton in the surface ocean are responsible for roughly half of all photosynthesis on the planet. Much of the organic material created by these photosynthetic organisms is ultimately consumed by diverse marine bacteria with differing preferences for specific types of chemical compounds. This project investigates how climate change (temperature and CO2) might alter the types and amounts of organic compounds produced by different species of marine phytoplankton and the types and amounts of compounds transferred from phytoplankton to marine bacteria. Shifts in organic compounds transferred to bacteria could alter the distribution of bacterial species in the ocean, their growth rates and efficiencies, and flows of energy through the global ocean. This project helps scientists better understand the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems. Two graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher are supported by the project, receiving interdisciplinary training in biology, chemistry, and ocean sciences. Summer research internships in the PIs? laboratories are offered to AP Biology students enrolled at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA, a school that serves a diverse social and economic community.

Much of the bacterial secondary production in the surface ocean is supported by rapid uptake of labile metabolites released from phytoplankton, either directly through excretion and diffusion or indirectly through lysis and predation. This project investigates the effects of two climate change variables (temperature and CO2) on the metabolite pools produced and released by three model phytoplankton species (a diatom, a coccolithophore, and a cyanobacterium) and assesses changes in the composition and fate of metabolites transferred to bacteria. Phytoplankton species are being grown axenically at two different temperatures and CO2 concentrations in a factorial design and endo- and exometabolite composition is determined using NMR. A suite of phytoplankton physiological characteristics is measured and evaluated in the context of metabolite composition. Experiments with heterotrophic bacteria (either model bacteria or natural bacterial communities) are being conducted to assess the effects of climate change variables on metabolite transfer from phytoplankton to marine bacteria. In the first experiment type, bacteria are co-cultured with the phytoplankton at different temperatures and CO2 concentrations, and changes in bacterial gene expression and metabolite concentrations are used to assess shifts in the composition of metabolites transferred. In the second type, bacteria are grown on phytoplankton metabolite pools produced at different temperatures and CO2 concentrations in high-throughput bioassays, and changes in bacterial traits (growth rate, carrying capacity, growth efficiency) resulting from the different climate scenarios are used to indicate changes in metabolite quality. Knowledge of how the heterotrophic processing of phytoplankton metabolites might shift in response to climate change allows better prediction of Earth's future carbon cycle.

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.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Olofsson, Malin and Ferrer-González, Frank X. and Uchimiya, Mario and Schreier, Jeremy E. and Holderman, Nicole R. and Smith, Christa B. and Edison, Arthur S. and Moran, Mary Ann "Growth-stage-related shifts in diatom endometabolome composition set the stage for bacterial heterotrophy" ISME Communications , v.2 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-022-00116-5 Citation Details
Holderman, Nicole R. and Ferrer?González, Frank X. and Glushka, John and Moran, Mary Ann and Edison, Arthur S. "Dissolved organic metabolite extraction from high?salt media" NMR in Biomedicine , v.36 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.4797 Citation Details
Moran, Mary Ann and Ferrer?González, Frank X. and Fu, He and Nowinski, Brent and Olofsson, Malin and Powers, McKenzie A. and Schreier, Jeremy E. and Schroer, William F. and Smith, Christa B. and Uchimiya, Mario "The Ocean's labile DOC supply chain" Limnology and Oceanography , v.67 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12053 Citation Details
Uchimiya, Mario and Olofsson, Malin and Powers, McKenzie A. and Hopkinson, Brian M. and Moran, Mary Ann and Edison, Arthur S. "13C NMR metabolomics: J-resolved STOCSY meets INADEQUATE" Journal of Magnetic Resonance , v.347 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2022.107365 Citation Details
Ferrer-González, Frank X. and Hamilton, Maria and Smith, Christa B. and Schreier, Jeremy E. and Olofsson, Malin and Moran, Mary Ann "Bacterial transcriptional response to labile exometabolites from photosynthetic picoeukaryote Micromonas commoda" ISME Communications , v.3 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00212-0 Citation Details
Schreier, Jeremy E. and Smith, Christa B. and Ioerger, Thomas R. and Moran, Mary Ann "A mutant fitness assay identifies bacterial interactions in a model ocean hot spot" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , v.120 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217200120 Citation Details
Martineac, Rachel P. and Vorobev, Alexey V. and Moran, Mary Ann and Medeiros, Patricia M. "Assessing the Contribution of Seasonality, Tides, and Microbial Processing to Dissolved Organic Matter Composition Variability in a Southeastern U.S. Estuary" Frontiers in Marine Science , v.8 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.781580 Citation Details

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