研究人员让史前藻类重获生机-动脉网

Researchers bring prehistoric algae back to life

D-Pharm 等信源发布 2025-04-01 11:58

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A research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) was able to revive dormant stages of

由莱布尼茨波罗的海海洋研究所瓦尔内明德分所（IOW）领导的一个研究团队成功复活了休眠阶段的

algae

藻类

that sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea almost 7,000 years ago. Despite thousands of years of inactivity in the sediment without light and oxygen, the investigated diatom species regained full viability. The study, recently published in The ISME Journal, was carried out as part of the Leibniz Association-funded collaborative research project PHYTOARK, which aims at a better understanding of the Baltic Sea's future by means of palaeoecological investigations of the Baltic Sea's past..

几乎7000年前沉入波罗的海海底。尽管在没有光线和氧气的沉积物中经历了数千年的不活动，但所研究的硅藻物种恢复了完全的活力。这项研究最近发表在《The ISME Journal》上，是作为莱布尼茨协会资助的协作研究项目PHYTOARK的一部分进行的，该项目旨在通过波罗的海过去的古生态学调查，更好地了解波罗的海的未来。

Many organisms, from bacteria to mammals, can go into a kind of ‘sleep mode’, known as dormancy, in order to survive periods of unfavourable environmental conditions. They switch to a state of reduced metabolic activity and often form special dormancy stages with robust protective structures and internally stored energy reserves.

许多生物，从细菌到哺乳动物，都可以进入一种“睡眠模式”，即休眠状态，以在不利的环境条件下生存。它们会切换到代谢活动降低的状态，并经常形成具有坚固保护结构和内部储存能量储备的特殊休眠阶段。

This also applies to phytoplankton, microscopically small plants that live in the water and photosynthesise. Their dormant stages sink to the bottom of water bodies, where they are covered by sediment over time and preserved under anoxic conditions..

这也适用于浮游植物，这些微小的植物生活在水中并进行光合作用。它们的休眠阶段会沉到水体底部，随着时间的推移被沉积物覆盖，并在缺氧条件下保存。

“Such deposits are like a time capsule containing valuable information about past ecosystems and the inhabiting biological communities, their population development and genetic changes,’ explains Sarah Bolius. The IOW phytoplankton expert is the first author of the study recently published in The ISME Journal, in which sediment cores from the Baltic Sea were analysed specifically for viable phytoplankton dormant cells from the past.

“这样的沉积物就像一个时间胶囊，包含了有关过去生态系统和其中栖息的生物群落、它们的种群发展及遗传变化的宝贵信息，”莎拉·博利乌斯解释道。这位IOW浮游植物专家是最近在《ISME杂志》上发表的研究的第一作者，该研究分析了波罗的海的沉积物核心，特别针对过去存活性的浮游植物休眠细胞进行了研究。

“This approach bears the rather unusual name of ‘resurrection ecology’: Dormant stages that can be clearly assigned to specific periods of Baltic Sea history due to the clear stratification of the Baltic Sea sediment are to be brought back to life under favourable conditions, then they are genetically and physiologically characterised and compared with present-day phytoplankton populations,” continues Bolius.

“这种方法有着相当不同寻常的名字‘复活生态学’：由于波罗的海沉积物的清晰分层，可以明确归属于波罗的海历史特定时期的休眠阶段，将在适宜的条件下被唤醒，然后对其进行基因和生理特征分析，并与现今的浮游植物种群进行比较，”博利乌斯继续说道。

By analysing other sediment components, so-called proxies, it will also be possible to draw conclusions about past salinity, oxygen and temperature conditions. “By combining all this information, we aim at better understanding how and why Baltic Sea phytoplankton has adapted genetically and functionally to environmental changes,‘’ the marine researcher explains the scientific approach of the study..

通过分析其他沉积物成分，即所谓的代理指标，也将有可能得出关于过去盐度、氧气和温度条件的结论。“通过结合所有这些信息，我们旨在更好地理解波罗的海浮游植物如何以及为何在基因和功能上适应了环境变化，”这位海洋研究者解释了该研究的科学方法。

Tiny algae ideal for sniffing out nutrient pollution in water

微小藻类是探测水体中营养污染的理想选择

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Old genes, stable functions

旧基因，稳定功能

The team led by Sarah Bolius, which included IOW experts as well as researchers from the Universities of Rostock and Constance, examined sediment cores taken from 240 metres water depth in the Eastern Gotland Deep during an expedition with the research vessel Elisabeth Mann Borgese in 2021. In favourable nutrient and light conditions, viable algae could be awakened from dormancy from nine sediment samples and individual strains were isolated.

由莎拉·博利乌斯领导的团队，包括IOW专家以及来自罗斯托克大学和康斯坦茨大学的研究人员，于2021年在研究船伊丽莎白·曼·博格塞号的一次考察中，检查了从东哥特兰深海240米水深处取得的沉积物岩心。在有利的营养和光照条件下，可从九个沉积物样本中唤醒休眠的活藻，并分离出单株藻种。

The samples were taken from different sediment layers that represent a time span of around 7000 years and thus the main climate phases of the Baltic Sea..

这些样本取自代表大约7000年时间跨度的不同沉积层，因此涵盖了波罗的海的主要气候阶段。

The diatom species Skeletonema marinoi was the only phytoplankton species that was revived from all samples. It is very common in the Baltic Sea and typically occurs during the spring bloom. The oldest sample with viable cells of this species was dated to an age of 6871 ± 140 years. “It is remarkable that the resurrected algae have not only survived ‘just so’, but apparently have not lost any of their ‘fitness’, i.

硅藻种类Skeletonema marinoi是唯一一种从所有样本中复活的浮游植物。它在波罗的海非常常见，通常在春季水华期间出现。具有该物种活细胞的最古老样本被测定为6871 ± 140年。“令人惊奇的是，这些复活的藻类不仅‘勉强’存活下来，而且显然没有失去任何‘适应性’。

e. their biological performance ability: They grow, divide and photosynthesise like their modern descendants,” emphasises Sarah Bolius. This even applies to the cells from the roughly 7000-year-old sediment layer, which proved to be stable during cultivation with an average growth rate of about 0.31 cell divisions per day – a value similar to the growth rates of modern-day Skeletonema marinoi strains, says Bolius.

e. 它们的生物性能能力：它们像现代后代一样生长、分裂和进行光合作用，”Sarah Bolius强调。Bolius还指出，即使是来自大约7000年前沉积层的细胞，在培养过程中也表现出稳定性，平均生长速率约为每天0.31次细胞分裂——这一数值与现代Skeletonema marinoi菌株的生长速率相似。

The measurement of photosynthetic performance also showed that even the oldest algae isolates can still actively produce oxygen – with average values of 184 micromoles of oxygen per milligram of chlorophyll per hour. “These are also values that are comparable to those of current representatives of this species,” says the algae expert..

光合性能的测量还表明，即使是最古老的藻类分离株仍然能够积极产生氧气——平均每小时每毫克叶绿素产生184微摩尔的氧气。“这些数值也与该物种的当前代表相当，”藻类专家说道。

The researchers also analysed the genetic profiles of the resurrected algae using microsatellite analysis – a method in which certain short DNA segments are compared. The result: The samples from sediment layers of different ages formed distinctive genetic groups. Firstly, this ruled out the possibility that cross contamination could have occurred during the cultivation of the strains from sediment layers of different ages.

研究人员还使用微卫星分析法分析了复活藻类的基因图谱——这种方法通过比较某些短DNA片段来进行。结果是：来自不同年代沉积层的样本形成了独特的遗传群体。首先，这排除了在培养不同年代沉积层中的菌株时可能发生交叉污染的可能性。

Secondly, this proves that successive populations of Skeletonema marinoi in the Baltic Sea have changed genetically over the millennia..

其次，这证明了波罗的海中连续的海洋骨条藻种群在数千年间发生了基因变化。

Dormancy as a survival strategy – and as the basis for an exciting research tool

休眠作为一种生存策略——以及一种令人兴奋的研究工具的基础

The phenomenon that organisms survive in dormancy over very long periods of time and can therefore potentially recolonise habitats under suitable conditions is also known from other studies – for example for plant seeds or small crustaceans, some of which remain viable for several centuries, even millennia.

其他研究也揭示了这种现象——即生物体能够在休眠状态下存活很长时间，因此在合适的条件下有可能重新定居栖息地——例如植物种子或小型甲壳类动物，其中一些可以存活数百年甚至数千年。

However, the successful resurrection of a dormant stage after such a long time, as in the case of Skeletonema marinoi, has rarely been documented. At around 7000 years old, the tiny cells of this diatom are among the oldest organisms to have been successfully revived from an intact dormant stage. From aquatic sediments, no older such cases are known to date..

然而，像海洋骨条藻这样长时间休眠后成功复活的情况很少有记录。这种硅藻的微小细胞大约有7000年历史，是迄今为止成功从完整休眠状态中复活的最古老生物之一。在水生沉积物中，目前尚无更古老的此类案例。

“The fact that we were actually able to successfully reactivate such old algae from dormancy is an important first step in the further development of the ‘Resurrection Ecology’ tool in the Baltic Sea. This means that it is now possible to conduct ‘time-jump experiments’ into various stages of Baltic Sea development in the lab,” says Sarah Bolius.

“我们实际上能够成功地将如此古老的藻类从休眠状态中重新激活，这是在波罗的海进一步开发‘复活生态学’工具的重要第一步。这意味着现在可以在实验室中进行‘时间跳跃实验’，以研究波罗的海发展的各个阶段，”萨拉·博利乌斯说。

The revived algae strains will therefore be further tested under different conditions in the future. “Our study also shows that we can directly trace genetic changes over many millennia – by analysing living cells instead of just fossils or DNA traces,” concludes the scientist. Further genetic analyses of the reactivated algae strains are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the causes of these genetic changes..

因此，未来将在不同条件下进一步测试这些复活的藻株。“我们的研究还表明，我们可以通过分析活细胞而不是仅仅化石或DNA痕迹直接追溯数万年来的基因变化，”科学家总结道。对重新激活的藻株进行更多的基因分析有望促进更好地理解这些基因变化的原因。

Understanding the future by travelling back in time

通过时间倒流来理解未来

The current study was carried out as part of the collaborative project PHYTOARK, which is funded by the Leibniz Association as part of the “Collaborative Excellence” funding line and coordinated at the IOW by Anke Kremp, head of the Phytoplankton Ecology working group. Nine other research institutions from Germany, Finland, Sweden and the USA are involved.

当前的研究是作为合作项目 PHYTOARK 的一部分进行的，该项目由莱布尼茨协会资助，属于“合作卓越”资助计划，并由 IOW 的浮游植物生态学工作组负责人安克·克雷姆普协调。参与项目的还有来自德国、芬兰、瑞典和美国的另外九个研究机构。

The aim is to use the state-of-the-art methods of palaeoecology and biodiversity research to look back up to 8,000 years and reconstruct changes in Baltic Sea phytoplankton caused by natural climate fluctuations. This look into the past should help to better assess future climate change impacts in the Baltic Sea..

目的是利用古生态学和生物多样性研究的最新方法，回顾过去8000年，重建由自然气候波动引起的波罗的海浮游植物的变化。这一对过去的展望应有助于更好地评估未来气候变化对波罗的海的影响。

Original publication

首次出版

Sarah Bolius, Alexandra Schmidt, Jérôme Kaiser, Helge W Arz, Olaf Dellwig, Ulf Karsten, Laura S Epp, Anke Kremp; 'Resurrection of a diatom after 7000 years from anoxic Baltic Sea sediment'; The ISME Journal, Volume 19, 2025-1-3

Sarah Bolius, Alexandra Schmidt, Jérôme Kaiser, Helge W Arz, Olaf Dellwig, Ulf Karsten, Laura S Epp, Anke Kremp；《从无氧波罗的海沉积物中复活一种七千年前的硅藻》；《The ISME Journal》，第19卷，2025年1月3日

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/1185927/researchers-bring-prehistoric-algae-back-to-life.html

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