Skip Navigation Links

Seminar Details

Bacterial effects on algal life, death and geology

Date

30/11/2017

Lecturers

Dr. Einat Segev - Dept. of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science

Abstract

Emiliania huxleyi is a single-celled marine alga covered by elaborate calcium carbonate disks called coccoliths. E. huxleyi has been extensively studied in the contexts of global carbon and sulfur cycles, climate, and biomineralization. It is the most abundant calcifying micro-alga in modern oceans where it forms massive annual blooms. While it is known that such algal blooms also contain bacteria, relatively little is know about bacterial interactions with E. huxleyi. One particular clade of bacteria, the Roseobacters, often associates with blooms dominated by E. huxleyi. In my talk I will present an algal-bacterial model system. I will discuss the chemical crosstalk and physiological processes that govern a dynamic interaction between E. huxleyi and a Roseobacter. I will show how my model system revealed bacteria as farmers of E. huxleyi and how this interaction alters algal alkenones, which are used for paleo-temperature reconstructions. Finally. I will suggest how to link my laboratory-based findings to environmental studies.

To Seminar List
Top