Jul 29, 2020
Researcher Victoria Orphan
implements
environmental microbiology to understand the ecology of
organisms in deep sea spaces unsuitable for human life. Her
research has broad implications: these life forms process methane,
a compound involved in global warming.
In this podcast, she discusses
- Some of the symbiotic relationships in these ocean depths, from the farming yeti crab that grow their own bacteria food to the archaea and bacteria symbionts that she studies;
- How these microorganisms sequester methane and why that's important; and
- What this has to do with discovering life on Mars.
Victoria Orphan is the James
Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology and the
director of the Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions at
Caltech. She studies the
ecology of microbes and the minerals and elements that they
cycle. This means utilizing tools of microbiology to understand how
these microorganism function.
Because she focuses on deep ocean systems, these interactions are
often between undomesticated organisms that exist in extreme
environments like hydrothermal vents. She's trying to learn
how they influence the cycling of geological systems and elements
like carbon and methane.
She discusses some of her
ventures into the ocean, describing the curious yeti crabs she
observed—crabs that have a symbiosis with oxidizing bacteria and
wave their arms over sulfur-rich vents to feed these bacteria that
coats their arms and that they then eat. A lot of her focus,
however, is on the microscale ecology of what is happening in these
spaces. This includes microorganisms that are involved in the
transfer of methane.
She describes her study of a microbial symbiosis that is occurring
between an archaea and a bacteria that use sulfates from seawater,
removing methane. She expounds on the challenges of such a study
and how this may help understand what exactly ends up in the
atmosphere and causes warming.
To find out more, see her lab's
website: orphanlab.caltech.edu.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK