- Cluster Ozeanboden
- Research Unit RECEIVER
- Projects
- Marine algae are estimated to contribute about half of the global primary production, converting carbon dioxide to organic compounds. A major component of this produced biomass is a variety of glycans; and yet their chemical composition and individual inv
Marine algae are estimated to contribute about half of the global primary production, converting carbon dioxide to organic compounds. A major component of this produced biomass is a variety of glycans; and yet their chemical composition and individual inv
Marine algae are estimated to contribute about half of the global primary production, converting carbon dioxide to organic compounds. A major component of this produced biomass is a variety of glycans; and yet their chemical composition and individual involvement in production, sedimentation and bacterial uptake remain largely unknown due to a lack of analytical tools for glycan-specific quantification.
Glycans are complex and often non-linear polymers built from numerous possible monosaccharides (sometimes with chemical modifications) and linkage possibilities. This complexity makes the structural analysis of glycans challenging and the analysis of glycans in marine dissolved or particulate organic matter even more difficult as the glycans are present in complex mixtures and at often low individual concentrations. This results in a fundamental lack of knowledge about the structures and functions of marine polysaccharides in the marine carbon cycle.
My project is to find new methods for identification and quantification of marine glycans. This involves the application of enzymatic and chemical hydrolysis of glycans and their detection using HPLC, MS and spectroscopic methods.