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Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (FIBR) 2003 awards "Do Species Matter in Microbial Communities?"
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September 2003
Sometimes it's hard to tell which is hotter, the debate over the concept of microbial species or Yellowstone's thermal springs, from which hail some bacteria central to the discussion.
Species are considered the fundamental units in plant and animal communities. But microbes have several asexual mechanisms for exchanging genetic material, and if this "horizontal gene transfer" is rampant and promiscuous, it might be necessary to rethink the species notion among microbes.
Led by David Ward of Montana State University, an NSF Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research project will gather and analyze DNA from the microbial mats in Yellowstone's heated pools to try and create a complete picture of the bacterial genomes there. The cataloging and comparing of DNA extracted from an environment, a technique called metagenomics, allows researchers to get a sense of whether or not genomes of individual organisms in a community of diverse organisms are organized into species-like populations.
"Resolving this question is one of the greatest challenges in all of science, made possible by a new era of environmental metagenomics methods," said Matt Kane, director of NSF's Microbial Observatories Program. "And where better to conduct this study than Yellowstone? The variety of environmental gradients and habitats probably harbors more microbial diversity than any other single site on our planet."
Lead principal investigator (Montana State University):
David Ward, (406) 994-3401, umbdw@montana.edu
Participating institutions:
- Montana State University (Ward)
- Stanford University/Carnegie Institution of Washington (Devaki Bhaya, Seung Yon Rhee, Arthur Grossman, Jeff Shrager, Samuel Karlin)
- Wesleyan University (Frederick Cohan)
- The Institute for Genomic Research (John Heidelberg)
- University of Copenhagen (Michael Kuhl)
- Lockheed Martin/NASA Astrobiology Institute (Catherine Tsairides)
Media contacts:
At Montana State University: Annette Trinity-Stevens, (406) 994-5607, annettet@montana.edu
At Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.: (202) 939-1120, tmcdowell@pst.ciw.edu
Total NSF funding, through August 2008: $4,999,690
Helpful web sites:
FIBR site at Montana State: http://landresources.montana.edu/FIBR
Montana State University news releases: http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwarchive.php
http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwmain.php?topic=5#28
Award abstract: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/servlet/showaward?award=0328698
The FIBR projects announced today include the following:
- "The Evolution of Biological Social Systems"
- "Integrated Ecological and Genomic Analysis of Speciation in Mimulus,"
- "Causes and Consequences of Recombination,"
- "Developmental Modeling and Informatics,"
- "Integrative Studies of Wolbachia-Eukaryotic Interactions: Genomes to Communities and Back,"
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of nearly $5.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding awards. The NSF also awards over $200 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Receive official NSF news electronically through the e-mail delivery system, NSFnews. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to join-nsfnews@lists.nsf.gov. In the body of the message, type "subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name. (Ex.: "subscribe nsfnews John Smith")
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
News Highlights: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa
Newsroom: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/media/start.htm
Science Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm
Awards Searches: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a6/A6Start.htm
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