Dynamics of microbial community genomes at time-series stations in the subarctic and subtropical gyres of the western North Pacific

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24241002
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental dynamic analysis
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: HAMASAKI KOJI 東京大学, 大気海洋研究所, 准教授 (80277871)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TAKAMI Hideto 国立研究開発法人海洋研究開発機構, 海底資源研究開発センター, 上席研究員 (70359165)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 微生物 / メタゲノム / 西部北太平洋

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The western North Pacific is one of the most productive area in the ocean and thus important for carbon sequestration by strong activity of the Biological Carbon Pump. Here, we report temporal variability of structures and metabolic potentials of surface seawater microbial communities collected from two contrasting time-series stations, K2 and S1, in the subarctic and subtropical gyres, respectively. This is the first report of metagenomic comparison of temporal dynamics in open ocean microbial communities of subtropical and subarctic areas, which has provided invaluable data and fruitful outcomes. We have also contributed to develop a next generation bioinformatics tool of metagenomics, so-called Metabolic And Physiological potentiaL Evaluator (MAPLE), and presented usefulness of this system as a novel tool in analyzing ecosystem dynamics.

Free Research Field

微生物海洋学