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Marine diatoms are single-celled, eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms that produce roughly 20% of the oxygen on the planet and play a central role in the global carbon cycle. Our lab is broadly interested in understanding the ecophysiology of diatoms and blends concepts in physiology, molecular biology, and biochemistry with marine ecology and oceanography.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are natural by products produced during photosynthesis and are essential as signaling molecules that regulate metabolism, growth, and defense. However, when ROS accumulates beyond the antioxidant capacity of the cell, it can cause oxidative stress that damages cell components, including proteins and lipids, and cause cell death. ROS has also been shown to be important in host-virus interactions across diverse systems, playing a role in host defense as well as facilitating viral replication and host lysis. In diatoms, ROS production appears to delay viral-induced mortality and reduce viral production (Kranzler et al. 2021, Nature Geoscience, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00711-6).
In this project, the student will explore the role of ROS on infection dynamics and host defense in using laboratory cultures of model diatom host-virus systems. Students will gain hands-on experience culturing phytoplankton using sterile techniques, conducting infection experiments, and assessing cell physiology using different methods such as biophysical measurements of photosynthetic efficiency and diagnostic fluorescent staining.
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