227.4006 – Marine Microbiology

Semester A

Time: Tuesday- 10-12

Instructor: Dr. Daniel Sher

Office Hours: by appointment

Teaching Assistants & Office Hours: None

Course Type: Lecture & Seminar

Course Level: M.Sc, open to 3rd year B.Sc

Pre-Requisites: Courses in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, basic microbiology

Course Overview:
Every milliliter of seawater in the surface ocean contains on the order of one million microorganisms, including the tiny photosynthetic algae that collectively perform about half of the photosynthesis on Earth and form the base of the marine food chain. Understanding the dynamics of how these microbes live and die, and the fluxes of energy and nutrients within the community, is necessary in order to develop predictive models of marine ecosystems, their relationship to global nutrient and carbon cycles, and how they may respond to environmental and climate change. The “marine microbiology” course will discuss major themes in marine microbiology and microbial oceanography through lectures, seminars and discussions. Informed discussion is a key aspect of the course, and the students are required to read a paper or review for every lesson. The papers will be available on the course Moodle website. In addition, every student will present a 45-minutes seminar on a hot topic in marine microbiology during a full “marine microbes day”.

Topics:
1. The weird physics of microbial life in the ocean

2. Phytoplankton I: the tiny primary producers that drive ocean ecosystems

3. The oligotrophic heterotrophs – how do they survive with so little food?

4. Phytoplankton II: Prochlorococcus – connecting genes, physiology and global dynamics

5. Heterotrophic bacteria and how they interact with DOM and POM

6. Is everything everywhere? Temporal and Spatial distributions of microbes in the ocean

7. The nitrogen and sulfur cycles and how they mediate

8. microbial interactions

9. Microbe-Microbe interactions in the Sea

10. Viruses and phage in the oceans: agents of change

11. Summary – putting everything together and a view to the future

 
At the end of the course students will be able to: [Learning Outcomes]
1. Students will gain a broad understanding of the roles of microorganisms in marine

2. Ecosystems, the physiology of these microorganisms and their effect on global biogeochemical cycles.

Requirements:
Attendance in lectures, seminar

Grading:
Seminar – 70%
Participation in discussions – 30%

Website:
None

Reading List:
1. Falkowski, 2012. Nature 483, S17

2. Giovannoni, Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2017. 9:12.1–12.25

3. Biller et al, Nat Rev Micro 2014, doi:10.1038/nrmicro3378

4. Azam and Malfatti, 2007, doi:10.1038/nrmicro1747

5. Omalley, Nature Reviews Microbiology 5, 647–651, 2007

6. Zehr and Kudela, Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2011. 3:197–225

7. Amin, Parker and Armbrust, Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 2012, 76(3):667.

8. Rodriguez-Valera et al, Nat Rev Micro 7, 828-836, 2009