Project description:Marine sediments harbor highly diverse microbial communities that contribute to global biodiversity and play essential roles in the ecosystem functioning. However, the metaproteome of marine sediments remains poorly understood. Extracting proteins from environmental samples can be challenging, especially in marine sediments due to their complex matrix. Few studies have been conducted on improving protein extraction methods from marine sediments. To establish an effective protein extraction workflow for clay-rich sediments, we compared, combined and improved several protein extraction methods. The presented workflow includes blocking of protein binding sites on sediment particles with high concentrations of amino acids, effective cell lysis via ultra-sonication, and the electro-elution and simultaneous fractionation of proteins. Using this workflow, we were able to recover 100% of the previously added Escherichia coli proteins from the sediment.
Project description:Human activities and climate change have negatively affected the world's oceans, leading to a 30-60% decline in biodiversity and habitats in coastal ecosystems. Marine turtles, as bioindicator species, accumulate contaminants, including trace elements, due to their extensive migration and long life span. However, there is a lack of data on the abundance of these contaminants and their effects on marine turtles' health. This study focuses on analyzing the muscle proteome of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Reunion Island. The ultimate goal was to evaluate whether muscle proteome responds to in-situ mixtures of inorganic contaminants to decipher the possible impacts on individual health, thereby identifying potential new biomarkers for long-term monitoring and conservation efforts.
Project description:Marine microalgae (phytoplankton) mediate almost half of the worldwide photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation and therefore play a pivotal role in global carbon cycling, most prominently during massive phytoplankton blooms. Phytoplankton biomass consists of considerable proportions of polysaccharides, substantial parts of which are rapidly remineralized by heterotrophic bacteria. We analyzed the diversity, activity and functional potential of such polysaccharide-degrading bacteria in different size fractions during a diverse spring phytoplankton bloom at Helgoland Roads (southern North Sea) at high temporal resolution using microscopic, physicochemical, biodiversity, metagenome and metaproteome analyses.
Project description:Over the last 60 years, marine natural products have had major economic and commercial importance. The development of a National Marine Biodiscovery Laboratory in Ireland (NMBLI), located at the Marine Institute (Oranmore), aims to strengthen Ireland’s capacity as research leaders in marine biotechnology and in particularly marine natural products chemistry. The NMBLI houses an Irish marine repository derived from marine macro-organisms collected in Irish coastal waters. The aim of this project is to collect organisms for the marine repository and identify samples of interest for chemical investigation. Other than the development of the laboratory at the marine institute (Oranmore) with the appropriate facilities and procedure to undertake biodiscovery research, the outcomes of this project are to identify bioactive marine natural products from Irish marine life.