NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Understanding protein synthesis in energetically constrained microbial consortia

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Understanding of how the planet’s climate responds to fluxes in levels of carbon is critical for predicting outcomes that inform how we interact with our environment at an individual level and as a community.

One of the carbon-containing molecules that lead to changes in climate is methane, a potent “greenhouse gas”. A major source of methane is the deep ocean floor, though most of this methane does not reach the surface of the ocean because it is consumed by certain microbes (Archaea, a distinct Domain of life) as an energy source. To perform this task, these archaea live in partnership with bacteria and share the energy yield.

Currently, little is known about which cellular components facilitate interactions within these microbial communities, and how the production of these components is regulated. In this project, an interdisciplinary approach will be used to determine the mechanisms that deep ocean microbes use to sense and interact with their environment and each other.

Through the study of the microbes that govern carbon flux in the ocean, it will be possible to make better models to predict potential feedback from dynamic changes in the global climate. The fellow will also work to strengthen the relationship between the host institution and the local community college, which will provide greater accessibility for student exposure to research at the university-level.

Through the intersection of molecular biology, biogeochemistry, and microbial ecology, the fellow will help build predictive models about how methane oxidizing consortia will respond to changes in their environment, and how those responses will impact methane flux from the oceans. The majority of deep-sea methane is consumed before reaching the surface by anaerobic methane oxidizing archaea that live in a syntrophic relationship with sulfate-reducing bacteria, coupling methane oxidation to sulfate reduction.

Recent work indicates this archaeal-bacterial symbiosis extends to cooperative behaviors such as such as direct electron transfer and sharing fixed nitrogen. This study will increase understanding of the processes driving life in microbial consortia at the translational level by utilizing 1) proteomics to broadly understand the metabolic potential of these consortia and 2) ribosome profiling to determine the translational landscape of the microbial communities at single-nucleotide resolution.

Beyond use in the deep ocean sediments, the products from this project (such as the experimental design) can be applicable to many different complex communities, including agricultural soils or other complex microbiomes. Further, the fellow will work with outreach centers both at the host institution and the local community college to facilitate research exchanges and help ease the process of transferring to a four-year college.

The fellow will also participate in current programming within the host institution to increase participation of underrepresented groups in the sciences.

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.