Cellular microcompartments are polyhedral organelle-like enzyme cores wrapped by protein shells that are widely found in bacteria. Our previous study established the first Asgard archaea Cluster of Orthologous Genes database and found that gene clusters of bacterial microcompartments exist in the genomes of Asgard archaea. This suggests that Asgard archaea may have organelles similar to bacterial microcompartments, which have not been reported yet. Therefore, there is an urgent need to carry out the functional characterization of the proteins encoded by the cellular microcompartment gene clusters in Asgard archaea. In this project, we propose to analyze the mechanism of phosphate-5-ribose catabolism in Asgard archaea, the composition of Asgard archaea cell microcompartment gene clusters, the assembly mechanism of Asgard archaea metabolosome shell proteins, the metabolic pathways of core metabolic genes in Asgard archaea metabolosome, reveal the mechanism of Asgard archaea catabolism through cell microcompartment metabolosome. This study will provide new insights into the catabolic and energy-acquiring mechanisms of Asgard archaea, and will also provide a new entry point for exploring the relationship between Asgard archaea and eukaryogenesis.

Coastal wetlands are unique ecosystems that connect land and sea with highly complex microbial diversity. Wetland microorganisms can be coupled with each other through substrate metabolism, electron transfer, etc., and cooperatively drive the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. However, the mechanism of how microorganisms couple and drive element circulation at different spatiotemporal scales is not yet clear. Based on our large amount of metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data and corresponding environmental parameters of coastal wetlands under different spatiotemporal conditions, we propose a multi-omics data-driven research roadmap. From the perspective of the microbiome and its transcriptional activity, we are applying the innovative method tmap developed by the team to combine multi-omics data and environmental parameters, with the “microorganism synergistically forming an active functional module to jointly drive the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur element cycles” as the scientific hypothesis. It is to establish a “species-function-element” microbiome topological analysis framework for coastal wetland researches, and to study the coupling mechanisms of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur element cycles in coastal wetlands from the perspective of microbiome active functional modules (AFM). The research results are helpful to provide an innovative perspective for the in-depth understanding of the coupling mechanism of hydrosphere microbial carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles, and effectively promote the data-driven research model of hydrosphere microbiome.

The marine free-living nematodes represent the most ubiquitous, abundant and diverse metazoans. Their grazing and bioturbation activities have impacts on element cycles e.g. nitrogen in marine ecosystem. Among N cycle processes, denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation are the important processes that can remove N from marine environment, which are the keys to mitigate marine inorganic nitrogen pollution. The “micro-food web” consisting of microbes and meiofauna can consume as high as 70% of the available organic matter in coastal ecosystems. However, the effects of the interaction between the food web components on nitrogen cycle have not yet been known. This project is to collect samples from the Shenzhen Bay and establish a micro-ecological culture system in lab, to study marine nematodes and microbes associated with denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation, to understand the interaction between them. Coupling with the in situ multi-channel microelectrode technique to analyze the changes of nitrogen flux in sediments, this project is also to discuss the role of marine nematodes in the nitrogen removal processes, to unveil that marine nematodes activities could not be neglected in marine nitrogen cycle. The potential results can enrich the scientific understanding of the ecological function of marine nematodes and provide a scientific basis for assessing the role of marine nematodes in the marine nitrogen cycle.