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Project Data
World-wide exploration of microbial eukaryote diversity and activity in the marine subsurface
Project Maintainers: William D. Orsi, Glenn D. Christman, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Jennifer F. Biddle
Project TitleWorld-wide exploration of microbial eukaryote diversity and activity in the marine subsurface
AcronymMicrobial Euk Div Mar Subsurface
URLhttp://www.bco-dmo.org/project/626119
CreatedNovember 5, 2015
ModifiedNovember 10, 2015

Project Description

Project description obtained from C-DEBI:
Practically nothing is known about microbial eukaryotes (mEuks) in the marine subsurface. mEuks are pivotal members of microbial communities because they regenerate nutrients and modify or remineralize organic matter through grazing on prokaryotic and other eukaryotic prey. Thus, mEuks help determine metabolic potentials of microbial communities and influence elemental cycling. Only one study has addressed mEuk diversity in the marine subsurface (Edgcomb et al. 2010), which suggested Fungi dominate the eukaryotic subsurface community and are active in sediments 35 mbsf at the Peru Margin. Thus, some mEuks may be specifically adapted to the deep subsurface and may play significant roles in the utilization and regeneration of organic matter and nutrients in deep-sea sediments. 

One objective of this study will be to further investigate whether Fungi are consistently the dominant group of mEuks in the marine subsurface by examining mEuk diversity in a broad range of subsurface samples from ODP expeditions spanning the world’s oceans. Deep sequencing of SSU rRNA in these samples will provide a proxy for mEuk diversity and activity in the marine subsurface. A second objective will be to ‘ground truth’ an mRNA isolation protocol for mEuks in marine subsurface sediments. Once established, this protocol will enable the third objective, which is the creation of a eukaryotic metatranscriptome from ODP site 1229. This metatranscriptome will provide insights into the functional role of mEuks in the marine subsurface and perhaps new insights into microbial evolution.

This project was funded by a C-DEBI Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Project Maintainers

NameAffiliationRoleContact
William D. OrsiUniversity of MunichPrincipal Investigator✓
Glenn D. ChristmanUniversity of DelawareCo-Principal Investigator
Virginia P. EdgcombWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)Co-Principal Investigator✓
Jennifer F. BiddleUniversity of DelawareCo-Principal Investigator

Related Items

Awards
Awards > Postdoctoral Fellowships
Award Dates: May 1, 2011 — April 30, 2013
World-wide exploration of microbial eukaryote diversity and activity in the marine subsurface
Awardee: William D. Orsi (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Current Placement: Assistant Professor, University of Munich (LMU)
Degree: Ph.D. Biology, Northeastern University (2011)
Advisors: Virginia P. Edgcomb (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Jennifer F. Biddle (University of Delaware)
Datasets
Last Modified: September 30, 2016
Instruments: PCR Thermal Cycler, Spectrophotometer, Fluorometer, Bioanalyzer
Anaerobic Peru Margin 2002
Data Project: World-wide exploration of microbial eukaryote diversity and activity in the marine subsurface
Project Maintainers: William D. Orsi, Glenn D. Christman, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Jennifer F. Biddle
Dataset Maintainers: William D. Orsi, Glenn D. Christman, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Jennifer F. Biddle, Virginia P. Edgcomb, William D. Orsi, Shannon Rauch
Last Modified: September 30, 2016
Instruments: PCR Thermal Cycler, Automated DNA Sequencer
Deep Biosphere Eukaryotic rRNA
Data Project: World-wide exploration of microbial eukaryote diversity and activity in the marine subsurface
Project Maintainers: William D. Orsi, Glenn D. Christman, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Jennifer F. Biddle
Dataset Maintainers: William D. Orsi, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Jennifer F. Biddle, Virginia P. Edgcomb, William D. Orsi, Shannon Rauch

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