The dangers of global warming, due in part to increasing carbon dioxide resulting from human activities, are well documented. And the race is on to find technologies to combat it.

Microbialites are one such technology and are the research focus of Dr. Jamie Foster, a dedicated microbiologist at the University of Florida Space Life Sciences Lab at the Kennedy Space Center.

Microbialites play a very important role in scrubbing carbon dioxide from the oceans and converting it to oxygen and calcium carbonate. We had the opportunity to interview Dr. Foster to find out more about her research and the impact it will have on our planet…..

Q: What are microbialites and why are they important to our ecosystem?

A: Microbialites are carbonate deposits that result from the activities of microbial mats, a type of biofilm, made up of complex communities of microbes. For more than 3 billion years these microbialitic mat communities dominated the Earth, however, today these ecosystems are typically found in more extreme environments. These communities are dominated by cyanobacteria and together with the other microbes act to sequester CO2 through their metabolic activities such as photosynthesis. The metabolic activities of the microbes cause an increase in the alkalinity engine resulting in the precipitation of calcium carbonate (lime). Clearly any microbial community that can remove carbon from the oceans and atmosphere is of great interest given recent concern regarding global warming. In addition to the cyanobacteria, microbialites also have lower layers of anaerobic microbes that reduce sulfate or oxidize sulfide as well as ferment chemicals. Together these various metabolisms are critical to the survival of the structure as a whole and allow the microbialitic mats to thrive in low nutrient areas.

Q: What is the focus of your current research?

A: We are investigating the underlying mechanisms of carbonate precipitation in microbialitic mats. Our recent publications have discussed what organisms are present in the microbialites. We’ve done this through sequencing analysis of 16S ribosomal DNA via pyrosequencing to identify unique ecotypes present in the samples. Now we’re shifting our focus from identifying diversity to identifying transcripts that are responsible for gene function. To do this we have built environmental flux chambers where we can grow the mats and experimentally manipulate variables such as pH and CO2 concentration among other things. Then by looking at the change in transcript levels we hope to identify the genetic pathways needed to promote microbialite accretion and how they sequester carbon.

Q: What is the potential impact of your work?

A: By identifying the microbes in these mats and their mechanism of function we may be able to grow them in a controlled manner to reduce the level of CO2 present in the atmosphere by enhancing the oceanic carbon sink. High levels of dissolved CO2 can change the pH of the ocean which would have a major impact on the carbon cycle, and potentially on the diversity of marine life. Promoting the growth of microbialitic mats may slow the acidification process.

Q: How has MO BIO Laboratories and our products assisted you in furthering this work?

A: Isolating DNA and RNA from microbialites is extremely difficult because of the abundance of carbohydrates such as exopolysaccharides as well as calcium which is a PCR inhibitor. MO BIO’s kits enable us to isolate more DNA and RNA with less contaminants than other kits.

To learn more about Dr. Foster’s research and for a complete publication list please check out her

website: http://jamiefosterscience.com

To learn more about global warming visit:  http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/globalchange/global_warming/03.html

~Suzanne (follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/SuzyScientist)