Laboratory for Marine Microbial Ecology

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Laboratory for Marine Microbial Ecology
Michael S. Rappé, Ph.D. Assistant
Researcher Hawaii Institute of Marine
Biology rappe_at_hawaii.edu
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Research Topics

• Marine bacterioplankton
• Deep subsurface biosphere
• Coral-associated microbes

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What is it we really want to know?

• Who is there? (Diversity)
• How many of each type (species? ecotype?
  phylotype? functional group?) are present at any
  given time and location? (Spatial and temporal
  distribution)
• What are they doing? What resources and
  strategies are they using for obtaining energy
  and cellular carbon? How fast are they doing it?
  (Biogeochemical cycling)
• How do they interact (with each other or their
  host)?

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Why HIMB?
Unparalleled access to environments under
study Coral reefs Sharp productivity gradient
from near-shore to open ocean Unlimited access
to pristine seawater for large volume (e.g. gt100
L) cultivation experiments, mesocosms, etc Test
bed for instrumentation intended for
remote/autonomous implementation
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Grants and Contracts Summary

• PI or co-PI on five active grants totaling 10.5
  million (NSF, NOAA, Hawaii Sea Grant, Agouron
  Institute)
• PI or co-PI on three active awards for high
  volume DNA sequencing (DOE, GBMF)
• Play roles in two research centers at UH, which
  total close to 25 million (C-MORE, PRCMB)
• Slightly over 2 million for direct support of
  research in my laboratory over half (1.1
  million) is for ongoing or future research
• NSF funding secured through 2012
• Four pending proposals

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Personnel
Graduate Students Amy Apprill, Oceanography,
PhD Darin Hayakawa, Microbiology, PhD Jennifer
Salerno, Zoology, PhD Tracy Campbell,
Oceanography, MS Sara Yeo, Oceanography,
MS Undergraduate Interns Chelsea Dudoit
Postdoctoral Scholars Alex Eiler, PhD, Uppsala
University Megan Huggett, PhD, UNSW Technical
Staff Misty Miller Naomi Wagoner
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Marine Bacterioplankton

• Develop new microbial systems for studying marine
  bacterioplankton via novel isolation and
  cultivation methodology
• Investigate the evolutionary processes that shape
  bacterioplankton clades and define taxa that can
  be treated as functional units by oceanographers
  studying ocean ecology
• Measure the spatial and temporal distribution of
  bacterioplankton lineages in Kaneohe Bay, the
  Hawaii Ocean Time-series Study Site, and as
  research cruise participants
• Comparative genomics of marine bacteria
• Perform genome-enabled, environmentally relevant
  microbial physiology with strains of important
  bacterioplankton
• Funding C-MORE, PRCMB, GBMF, DOE, NSF

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Coral-Associated Microbes

• Identify microorganisms associated with colonies
  of healthy corals common to the Hawaiian islands
• Map coral-associated microbial lineages at a
  range of spatial and temporal scales
• Compare CAM communities between apparently
  healthy corals and those exhibiting disease
  and/or bleaching
• Investigate microorganisms present in different
  life stages (egg, larvae) of corals, and compare
  them to adults
• Isolate major groups of coral-associated
  microorganisms for laboratory-based
  experimentation and analysis
• Funding NOAA, NSF, PRCMB

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Deep Subsurface Biosphere

• Identify and quantify the microorganisms present
  in deep subsurface crustal fluids
• Assay the metabolic potential of the deep
  subsurface microbiota by nutrient enrichment,
  culturing, and genomics
• Develop new environmental microbiology tools for
  remote sampling and manipulations
• Funding NSF

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Future Research Endeavors
The future of microbial oceanography and
environmental microbiology lies in collaborative,
multi-disciplinary research such as that found in
C-MORE and PRCMB. My planned research endeavors
will either take advantage of the
multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary centers
and their existing infrastructure or use them as
a model for future collaborative science

• Sensor technology and the remote acquisition of
  microbial community structure and physiological
  data
• Promote HIMB as a test site for microbial sensor
  development and a platform for mesocosm
  experimentation

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Relation to SOEST Priority Areas and Issues

• Ocean observing
• Bigeochemistry of marine microorganisms
• Coral health