美国科学家发现了一种纳米尺度下蓝绿藻吸收营养元素的成像和追踪方法。
美国劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室、南加州大学以及波兰特大学的研究人员表示:蓝绿藻在全球碳循环中起着重要的作用,因为它们可以将大气中的氮气转化为一种可以利用的营养元素,以致在营养元素缺乏的水域也可以进行光合作用。
科学家们表示:这种新的成像-追踪方法利用的是一种高分辨率的次离子质谱仪——NanoSIMS,它可以帮助科学家们解开各种蓝绿藻单细胞生物体如何“固定”或者吸收大气中的氮和碳的这个古老谜团。NanoSIMS的分辨率为50-100纳米,它可以检测到各种元素和同位素的分布。
南加州大学大学的教授Kenneth Nealson预测:NanoSIMS将开创一个全新的研究领域。他表示:利用这种技术可以研究细胞中正在进行的事情,这将改变我们进行微生物学研究的方式。
该项研究结果发表在最新一期的《国际微生物生态学协会杂志》上。
英文原文链接:
sciencedaily
NanoSIMS: Changing microbiology
LOS ANGELES, July 11 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered a method of imaging and tracking nutrient uptake in blue green algae at the nanoscale level.
The researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of Southern California and Portland State University said blue green algae are significant species in the global carbon cycle because they transform nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into a useable nutrient, enabling photosynthesis in nutrient-poor waters.
The scientists said the new imaging-tracking method that uses NanoSIMS -- a high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometer -- should help resolve the age-old puzzle of how different species of blue green algae can "fix" or take up atmospheric nitrogen and carbon in a single cell organism.
NanoSIMS can map distributions of elements and isotopes with 50-100-nanometer resolution.
USC Professor Kenneth Nealson predicts NanoSIMS will open a whole new field of study.
"You can use this technology to look at things going on inside the cell," he said. "This is going to change the way that we do a lot of microbiology."
The research appears in the latest issue of The International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.