18-BBSRC-NSF/BIO Focusing a quantitative lens on synthetic phototrophic communities
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Plant Sciences
Abstract
Microbes, such as bacteria and other single-celled organisms, are found as communities that populate nearly all environments on our planet from the human gut, to the surface of corals in the oceans and plant roots buried in the soil. These diverse and complex populations interact with each other and are important to maintain the health of the environment around them. Understanding how these microbes interact will reveal factors that build and maintain robust, productive populations. Synthetic communities of bacteria isolated from the hot spring mats of Yellowstone National Park will be used to test and model microbial community systems to help understand the physical and metabolic conversations among microbes in extreme environments.
Technical Summary
This project is focused on building synthetic communities of microbes in the laboratory present in the hot spring mats of Yellowstone National Park. These 'laboratory communities' will reveal the overall metabolic landscape of the mats using both the entire microbial membership of the mat and synthetic combinations The application of omics technologies will reveal key metabolic pathways among the members of the community under different light and nutrient conditions and over the diel cycle. The work will also highlight the concept that microbial communities act like an integrated machine rather than as individual species grown under axenic conditions in the laboratory, and that this integration maintains functionalities critical for life in their natural habitat. Experiments will also be performed to analyze how disruptions in the local environment (e.g. abrupt changes in light intensity, temperature and nutrient availability) and in the microbial composition (addition of exogenous microbes not normally present in these communities) impact mat growth, structure, electrical and metabolic networks.
Planned Impact
The work has broad impacts in that it will establish a model microbial community system for understanding the physical and metabolic interactions among microbes in extreme environments. This will help address issues of metabolic exchange and fitness in other microbial consortia and identify key 'exchange' metabolites that might be critical for growth and regulation. The work may also reveal the ability of these systems to acclimate to changes that are already occurring in our environment (e.g. temperature, nutrient availability and CO2 levels). The project will help to move us beyond the 'Who's there?' approach to studying microbial communities towards a mechanistic and predictive understanding.
The three US laboratories are also committed to extend the work to broader community of scientists/students as well as to the general public (the UK partners also have an active outreach program). These activities include an ongoing summer intern program for college students and teaching freshman classes at Stanford University on microbial consortia and biotic interactions. Additional value will involve the training of students from ethnically diverse backgrounds, not only from Stanford, but also from San Jose State University, which is the major supplier of graduates in education, engineering, computer science and business to the Silicon Valley workforce. The three US investigators will also continue their outreach activity to the general public via lectures, Q&As and media engagements.
Smith and Howe are very actively involved in communication of research to students and the general public, as well as fellow scientists. They teach substantial numbers of high calibre undergraduates directly each year, as well as training PhD students. They and their lab members regularly contribute to university masterclasses, particularly aimed at academically gifted school pupils, especially those from disadvantaged groups, as well as giving lectures in schools. Outreach work to the broader public includes regular participation in events such as 'Pint of Science' and media involvement (eg Smith's recent interview with Jim Al-Khalili's 'The Life Scientific'). Both the Smith and Howe groups have a strong culture of public involvement, and a postdoc in the Howe lab, Dr Paolo Bombelli, was one of the first recipients of the recently-instituted Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Public Engagement, in 2017. Importantly, our experience suggests the nature of the topic studied here should be good for exciting public interest, and offers the potential for public engagement in wider areas such as conservation, evolution, photosynthesis and renewable energy.
The three US laboratories are also committed to extend the work to broader community of scientists/students as well as to the general public (the UK partners also have an active outreach program). These activities include an ongoing summer intern program for college students and teaching freshman classes at Stanford University on microbial consortia and biotic interactions. Additional value will involve the training of students from ethnically diverse backgrounds, not only from Stanford, but also from San Jose State University, which is the major supplier of graduates in education, engineering, computer science and business to the Silicon Valley workforce. The three US investigators will also continue their outreach activity to the general public via lectures, Q&As and media engagements.
Smith and Howe are very actively involved in communication of research to students and the general public, as well as fellow scientists. They teach substantial numbers of high calibre undergraduates directly each year, as well as training PhD students. They and their lab members regularly contribute to university masterclasses, particularly aimed at academically gifted school pupils, especially those from disadvantaged groups, as well as giving lectures in schools. Outreach work to the broader public includes regular participation in events such as 'Pint of Science' and media involvement (eg Smith's recent interview with Jim Al-Khalili's 'The Life Scientific'). Both the Smith and Howe groups have a strong culture of public involvement, and a postdoc in the Howe lab, Dr Paolo Bombelli, was one of the first recipients of the recently-instituted Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Public Engagement, in 2017. Importantly, our experience suggests the nature of the topic studied here should be good for exciting public interest, and offers the potential for public engagement in wider areas such as conservation, evolution, photosynthesis and renewable energy.
Organisations
Publications
Laeverenz Schlogelhofer H
(2021)
Combining SIMS and mechanistic modelling to reveal nutrient kinetics in an algal-bacterial mutualism.
in PloS one
Srivastava V
(2021)
Adaptive laboratory evolution of the fast-growing cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 11801 for improved solvent tolerance.
in Journal of bioscience and bioengineering
Martin N
(2021)
Synthetic algal-bacteria consortia for space-efficient microalgal growth in a simple hydrogel system
in Journal of Applied Phycology
Laeverenz Schlogelhofer H
(2021)
Combining SIMS and mechanistic modelling to reveal nutrient kinetics in an algal-bacterial mutualism.
Ibrahim IM
(2022)
Thiol redox switches regulate the oligomeric state of cyanobacterial Rre1, RpaA and RpaB response regulators.
in FEBS letters
Papadopoulos K
(2023)
Vitamin B12 bioaccumulation in Chlorella vulgaris grown on food waste-derived anaerobic digestate
in Algal Research
Sayer A
(2024)
Conserved cobalamin acquisition protein 1 is essential for vitamin B12 uptake in both Chlamydomonas and Phaeodactylum
in Plant Physiology
Description | Microbes that live in hot springs have to have many adaptations to deal with the extreme temperatures. They often grow in complex communities where exchange of nutrients and other signals allow them to be more robust. We are part of a consortium looking at microbial communities from hot springs in California, where photosynthetic cyanobacteria provide sugars to support other bacteria; these in turn are likely to supply key nutrients in exchange. We have analysed the genome sequences of the two types of bacteria for enzymes of vitamin biosynthesis and found that whilst some species are able to make these compounds, others cannot and will need a supply of them from outside - thus indicating the potential for mutualistic relationships. Our collaborators will carry out experimental validation of our predictions. The computational method we used to analyse the genome has been developed into a tool that can be used to query any genome for any set of enzymes, thus making it possible to screen for other potential interdependencies. |
Exploitation Route | The bioinformatics tool is a robust method for screening several genomic sequences for the presence of multiple genes (10s - 100s) and is freely available on the web. |
Sectors | Environment Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | AH gave an invited talk at the Centre for Bioinformatics in Saarbrücken (Germany) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | AH presented talk 'Gaining new insights into the microbial world: how algae-bacteria interactions form and how to monitor microbial communities in the field' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://zbi-www.bioinf.uni-sb.de/en |
Description | AH gave an invited talk infront of the Cambridge One Health Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | AH presented talk 'Metagenomic freswater monitioring in the context of One Health'. This resulted in networking and outreach to One Health enthusiasts in and around Cambridge |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk |
Description | AH presented a talk at the CluB12 meeting, 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | AH presented a talk entitled "A system biological study on vitamin B12 deprivation in algae" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.club-12.org |
Description | EH presented a talk at the CluB12 meeting, 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | EH presented a talk entitled "Algal assay for vitamin B12" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.club-12.org |
Description | Interdisciplinary course in algal-inspired design |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | LA designed and delivered a lecture series, microalgal workshops and project reviews for a Masters program at Central St Martins. Students engaged with opportunities to develop more sustainable artefacts and were keen to showcase importance of considering sustainability in future art |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/textiles-and-materials/postgraduate/ma-biodesign-csm |
Description | SRA Payam Mehrshahi and Dr Lorraine Archer presented via a video walk-through the Algal Innovation Centre for the EIT food workshop ALGAL BIOTECHNOLOGY 2020 - TECHNIQUES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE BIOECONOMY |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Due to Covid-19 restrictions the EIT Food Professional Development course was redesigned so that 3x 2day courses were combined and presented online once over a two-day course. As the lead organisation, the University of Cambridge team (Payam Mehrshahi, Matthew Davey, Lorraine Archer) produced daily programme of lecture/seminars that brought together leading international experts to introduce the theory of techniques, SOPs best practice and live demonstration of equipment and facilities. The course offered insights and examples from an industrial and entrepreneurial perspective, that helped the participants to start or improve their own algal-based business. The video walk-through of the Algal Innovation Centre at the University of Cambridge was designed by Payam and Lorraine to reflect the wide range of research involving algae that is carried out in the university and in this facility. The 30 minute video was followed by a 45 minute Q&A session during which participants asked about technical aspects of equipment, consumables, algae strains, culturing conditions and trouble shooting advice. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.eitfood.eu/media/documents/ALGAL_BIOTECH_DRAFT_TRAINING_COURSE_2020_FINAL_v10.pdf |