Microbes are core components of the ecology, biochemistry and geochemistry of all ecosystems, including plants and animals. Microbiomes can include thousands of members, each with the potential to interact with their environment and other organisms, often in unique ways, ultimately influencing the functioning of the system. 

While there is a growing understanding of the diversity of microbial communities, it remains difficult to disentangle the effects of different environment variables and processes in driving the composition and functioning of these communities.

This project team developed a marine microbial model system examining the interplay between the key temporal and spatial patterns that shape microbial communities and processes in complex environments. Used a marine system as a test-case for analysis and collaboration, team members collected and processed microbiome diversity and metagenomic samples to unravel the complexity of the marine microbiomes. Datasets included amplicon libraries for assessments of the fine-scale diversity of marine microbiomes and metagenomic data to determine what biochemical pathways are enriched for different communities. 

Team members used bioinformatic analyses to unpack the molecular mechanisms behind the patterns of diversity observed by the 2020-2021 team. The team also used the Galaxy platform to share this technology and approach for further research and training purposes. 

Learn more about this project team by viewing the team's video.

Timing

Summer 2021 – Spring 2022 

Team Outputs

Marine microbial model system

Open-source data for further research and training

Gronniger J.L., Wang Z., Brandt G.R., Ward C.S., Tsementzi D., Mu H., Gu J., Johnson Z.I., Konstantinidis K.T., Hunt D.E. 2022. Rapid changes in coastal ocean microbiomes uncoupled with shifts in environmental variables. Environmental Microbiology DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16086.

Collaborative Research: BoCP-Design: A multidomain microbial consortium to interrogate organic matter decomposition in a changing ocean ($439,396 NSF Grant awarded to Dana Hunt)

Conference presentations by Junyao Gu and Zackary Johnson at ProSynFest 2022

Abstract Book here: https://www.prosynfest2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Abstract-Book-...)

See earlier related team, Oceans of Microbiomes (2020-2021).

Image: Baltic blooms, by European Space Agency, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0