Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes that are found in most types of environments that are illuminated. Their global biomass has been estimated to be ~3 � 1014 g carbon (C) and their key role in global C and nitrogen (N) cycling has been widely accepted. Despite the ecological importance of the Cyanobacteria and significant efforts of the scientific community to advance our understanding of this phylum, very little is known about how Cyanobacteria affect and respond to environmental changes. This knowledge gap is mostly due to the fact that approaches facilitating in-situ studies of complex microbial systems were rather limited until recently. Our group takes advantage of the unique �omics capabilities available at two of DOE's user facilities (i.e. the Joint Genome Institute and the Environmental and Molecular Science Laboratory) to i) obtain a multi-scalar (from molecule to cell to population to ecosystem) understanding of a selected set of mixed cultures that contain several distinct Cyanobacteria and several heterotrophic microorganisms and to ii) determine how the individual community members affect C and N cycles. In addition, our team is collaborating with staff from the Joint Genome Institute and the Environmental and Molecular Science Laboratory to develop computational and experimental approaches that will facilitate the isolation of pure cultures of microorganisms that are recalcitrant to current isolation and cultivation techniques. Recent findings will be presented here.

Systems microbiology of c<i>yanobacteria</i>: Building a framework for a systems-level understanding of carbon and nitrogen cycling

248th National Meeting (2014)

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Systems microbiology of cyanobacteria: Building a framework for a systems-level understanding of carbon and nitrogen cycling