Experimental Evolution of Marine Phytoplankton Under Elevated pCO2

The CO2 content of Earth's atmosphere is increasing at an unprecedented pace. Because marine phytoplankton are a crucial link in Earth's carbon cycle, understanding how they will adapt to elevated CO2 is an important component of our ability to predict the chemical composition of the future atmosphere and ocean, and hence our ability to predict the extent of anthropogenic impact on Earth's climate. In this study we used experimental laboratory evolution of representative phytoplankton strains, in co-culture with a widespread marine bacterium (Alteromonas macleodii) to understand how the genomes of these organisms would respond to projected future conditions.

地球大气中的二氧化碳含量正以前所未有的速度攀升。由于海洋浮游植物（marine phytoplankton）是地球碳循环的关键枢纽，明确其如何适应升高的二氧化碳浓度，乃是我们精准预测未来大气与海洋化学组成，进而预判人为活动对地球气候影响程度的核心组成部分。本研究针对代表性浮游植物菌株开展实验室进化实验，并将其与广泛分布的海洋细菌麦克劳德交替单胞菌（Alteromonas macleodii）进行共培养，以探究这些生物体的基因组将如何响应预测的未来环境条件。