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Research Overview
Research Overview
The Sosa Lab is interested in the biochemical and geochemical functions mediated by microbial plankton communities in the ocean. Our research applies a synergistic approach of microbiology, metagenomics, and genetics in the laboratory and oceanographic and biogeochemical field studies to understand how these functions impact nutrient cycling, carbon flow, and the ecology of microbes in the sea. Of special interest to our group are microbial functions that produce methane and cycle phosphorus in marine surface waters.
The Sosa Lab is interested in the biochemical and geochemical functions mediated by microbial plankton communities in the ocean. Our research applies a synergistic approach of microbiology, metagenomics, and genetics in the laboratory and oceanographic and biogeochemical field studies to understand how these functions impact nutrient cycling, carbon flow, and the ecology of microbes in the sea. Of special interest to our group are microbial functions that produce methane and cycle phosphorus in marine surface waters.
January 2021
January 2021
A sensitive fluorescent assay for measuring carbon-phosphorus lyase activity in aquatic systems
A sensitive fluorescent assay for measuring carbon-phosphorus lyase activity in aquatic systems
Benjamin N. Granzow, Oscar A. Sosa, Margherita Gonnelli, Chiara Santinelli, David M. Karl, Daniel J. Repeta
This article describes a fluorescent phosphonate that can be used as tracer of phosphonate degradation activity by the enzyme C-P lyase. The assay was tested with marine bacterial isolates and in the open ocean.
Please visit our article published in Limnology and Oceanography Methods.
May 2020
May 2020
Phosphonate cycling supports methane and ethylene supersaturation in the phosphate-depleted western North Atlantic Ocean
Phosphonate cycling supports methane and ethylene supersaturation in the phosphate-depleted western North Atlantic Ocean
Oscar A. Sosa, Timothy J. Burrell, Samuel T. Wilson, Rhea K. Foreman, David M. Karl, Daniel J. Repeta
A big thank you to my postdoctoral advisors and colleagues at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with whom I conducted this research as a postdoc from 2017-2019.
Please visit our article published in Limnology and Oceanography.
July 2019
July 2019
Methylphosphonate oxidation in Prochlorococcus strain MIT9301 supports phosphate acquisition, formate excretion, and carbon assimilation into purines
Methylphosphonate oxidation in Prochlorococcus strain MIT9301 supports phosphate acquisition, formate excretion, and carbon assimilation into purines
Oscar A. Sosa, John R. Casey, David M. Karl
This research describes a non-methanogenic phosphonate oxidative pathway for the catabolism of methylphosphonate in bacteria. A big thank you to my colleagues at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with whom I conducted this research as a postdoc from 2016-2019.
Please visit the article published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
April 2019
April 2019
Phosphate‐limited ocean regions select for bacterial populations enriched in the carbon–phosphorus lyase pathway for phosphonate degradation
Phosphate‐limited ocean regions select for bacterial populations enriched in the carbon–phosphorus lyase pathway for phosphonate degradation
Oscar A. Sosa, Daniel J. Repeta, Edward F. DeLong, Mohammad D. Ashkezari, David M. Karl
This study describes the biogeography of the C-P lyase pathway in oceanic bacterial communities. We show that the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic, two ocean regions that exhibit periods of phosphate limitation, host bacterial communities adapted to degrade phosphonates in response to phosphate stress. This metabolic adaptation may thus contribute to the release of methane through the degradation of methylphosphonate. Thank you to my advisors and colleagues for supporting this project while at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa from 2016-2019.
Please visit the article published in Environmental Microbiology.
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