Research Overview
Marine Microbial
Ecology
Marine microbial ecology refers to
complex interactions among and between microorganisms and their ocean or
saltwater environments. Many marine microorganisms such as bacteria and
plankton are subject to infections by viruses. These interactions have
important implications for ocean's food chains and biogeochemical cycles.
Marine viruses
Viruses are the most abundant
biological entities in the ocean. Typically, there are about 10 millions of
viral particles in a teaspoon size of seawater, and the majority of them are
pathogens of bacteria and microalgae.
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Research Description
Research Area: Marine
microbial ecology
Research Specialties: Ecological interaction among marine microbes (viruses,
bacteria and phytoplankton); phylogenetic diversity and molecular evolution of
marine microbes; whole cell or in situ molecular detection; functional genes
and microbial genome.
Research Interests
My current research interests focus on four
main areas: 1) the role of marine viruses on microbial mortality and
diversification; 2) population dynamics of virio- and bacterio-plankton in the
Chesapeake Bay over time and space; 3) microbial genomics and functional
genomics; 4) microalgae for biofuels and clean coal.
Marine viruses are known to play a key role on
regulating microbial biomass and production. However, little is known about the
role of marine viruses on microbial population structure, genetic
diversification, and genomic evolution. Our lab uses...
Complete Information...
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Representative Publications
Zhao, Y.L.,
K. Wang, H-W. Ackermann, N. Z. Jiao, F. Chen. 2009. Searching for a "hidden"
prophage in a marine bacterium. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. (in press)
Short, S.,
F. Chen, S. Wilhelm. 2009. The Construction and Analysis of Marker Gene
Libraries. In: Suttle et al. (eds). Methods in Aquatic Viruses. Limnol. &
Oceangr. Methods (in press).
Chen, F., K.
Wang, S.J. Huang, H.Y. Cai, M.L. Zhao, N.Z. Jiao, and E. Wommack. 2009. Diverse
and dynamic populations of cyanobacterial podoviruses in the Chesapeake
Bay unveiled through DNA polymerase gene sequences. Environ.
Microbiol. 11: 2884-2892.
Complete Listing...
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