[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 224 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63798-63800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-30359]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Notice 00-04:
Biotechnological Investigations--Ocean Margins Program (BI-OMP)
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice inviting research grant applications.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) of
the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby
announces its interest in receiving research applications involving the
use of molecular biological and biogeochemical techniques to understand
the linkages between carbon and nitrogen cycles (primary production and
microbial processes) in ocean margins. This information is critical to
understanding carbon fixation and sequestration in ocean margin
ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles. Applications must involve
mutually collaborative partnerships between institutions with a strong
tradition of research in marine sciences and those institutions with
developing research capabilities in marine science. Partnerships are
particularly encouraged with institutions that traditionally have
served groups under represented in the sciences. The goals of such
collaborative research projects are to enhance the research
capabilities of both institutions, to promote significant interactions
between institutions, to foster long-term collaboration among
investigators, and to advance understanding at the molecular and
biogeochemical level of the linkages between nitrogen cycling and
carbon fixation and sequestration in coastal oceans.
DATES: To permit timely consideration for awards in Fiscal Year 2000
and early Fiscal Year 2001, formal applications submitted in response
to this notice must be received by 4:30 p.m., E.S.T., February 10,
2000.
ADDRESSES: Formal applications referencing Program Notice 00-04 should
be forwarded to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Grants
and Contracts Division, SC-64, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD
20874-1290, ATTN: Program Notice 00-04. This address also must be used
when submitting applications by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail or any
commercial mail delivery service, or when hand-carried by the
applicant.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Anna Palmisano, Environmental
Sciences Division, SC-74, Office of Biological and Environmental
Research, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901
Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290, telephone: (301) 903-9963,
e-mail: anna.palmisano@science.doe.gov, fax: (301) 903-8519. The full
text of Program Notice 00-04 is available via the Internet using the
following web site address: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/
grants.html.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The primary research goal of the
Biotechnological Investigation--Ocean Margins Program is to establish a
more thorough understanding of the molecular to global scale links and
feedback mechanisms between solar irradiance, marine microbial
activity, primary productivity, carbon and nitrogen cycles and
remotely-sensed ocean color data. Specifically, DOE seeks applications
to:
I. Apply new and innovative techniques in marine molecular biology
and marine biotechnology to assess fixation of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, determine the mechanisms and processes that control the
dynamics of nitrogen fixation or denitrification in coastal waters and
sediments, define the coupling and/or decoupling of carbon and nitrogen
cycles in coastal environments, and determine the linkages between the
function and structure of microbial communities mediating carbon and
nitrogen cycling in coastal environments, and
II. Examine the environmental factors (including nutrient
availability, temperature, irradiance, and biopolymer lability) that
affect the linkages between primary productivity, the utilization of
particulate and dissolved organic matter (POM and DOM) by bacterial
populations, and nitrogen cycling in coastal areas.
This information is crucial to understanding the responses of
marine biological systems to changes in atmospheric radiative budgets
and global biogeochemical cycles.
Program Relationships
The Biotechnological Investigations--Ocean Margins Program is
expected to build on past research results and accomplishments within
the Ocean Margins Program (OMP) component of the Biological and
Environmental Research (BER) program. The main objective of OMP was
determining whether primary productivity on continental shelves is
quantitatively significant in removing carbon dioxide (CO2)
from the atmosphere. Other objectives of the OMP were: (1) Quantifying
the ecological and biogeochemical processes that affect the cycling,
flux, and storage of carbon and other biogenic elements at the land/
ocean interface; and (2) Defining ocean margin sources and sinks in
global biogeochemical cycles.
Under the first phase of BI-OMP, molecular biological techniques
were developed, adapted, and applied to determine how biological
processes are regulated and controlled by genetic limitations and
environmental variables. Research emphasis was placed on molecular
regulation of photosynthetic carbon reduction by phytoplankton;
molecular diagnostic markers of bacterial growth, production, and
nutrient limitations to growth, and; molecular techniques for
elucidating metabolic pathways.
Research in Biotechnological Investigations--Oceans Margins Program
will complement ongoing OBER efforts in the area of ocean carbon
sequestration. The Carbon Management Science Program is funding a DOE
Center for Ocean Carbon Sequestration Research jointly lead by the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory.
The Center is performing research necessary to evaluate the
feasibility, effectiveness and environmental acceptability of
sequestration of carbon in the ocean, either through direct injection
of carbon dioxide to ocean depths or by fertilization of the ocean with
limiting nutrients such as iron. The Carbon Management Science Program
also is supporting the sequencing of microorganisms involved in ocean
carbon cycling including Prochlorococcus marinus.
Biotechnological Investigations--Ocean Margins Program (BI-OMP)
BI-OMP is an outgrowth of the Ocean Margins Program (OMP). It
places an increased emphasis on the application of modern molecular
tools to marine microbes and their role in carbon and nitrogen cycling,
and processes affecting global change. Photosynthetic rates in the
ocean, and sequestration of atmospheric CO2 by marine
primary production greatly depend on the availability of fixed
inorganic nitrogen. Three major external sources of fixed inorganic
nitrogen are cultural eutrophication of the coastal zone; atmospheric
deposition of anthropogenic and naturally produced oxides of nitrogen;
and nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere by microorganisms.
Research in Temperate and High Latitude coastal areas indicates
that the availability and cycling of nitrogen is likely to be the major
control on primary productivity and carbon cycling in these
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areas. Moreover, it appears that denitrification (the reduction of
fixed nitrogen to N2) overwhelms nitrogen fixation by
cyanobacteria in Northern Latitude waters and sediments. In these
areas, there does not appear to be paucity of iron (Fe) to limit
nitrogen fixation, but nitrogenase activity may be inhibited by the
elevated concentrations of ammonia (NH3) that occur in
Arctic waters following phytoplankton blooms. Since little is known
about the rates of nitrogen fixation, primary productivity, and
bacterial respiration in cold water areas, this notice calls for
applications to help understand the molecular to global scale links and
feedback mechanisms between solar irradiance, marine microbiology,
coastal nitrogen and carbon cycles, primary productivity, and remotely-
sensed ocean color data in the low-temperature waters, such as those
off Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Although it is anticipated that most of the research performed will
be laboratory-based, if field studies are necessary, they should be
conducted in the coastal waters, including those off the North Slope of
Alaska and Pacific Northwest; or, in the estuarine and shelf waters of
the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico; Savannah River and South
Atlantic Bight; or Chesapeake Bay and Mid-Atlantic Bight. Applications
that are solely concerned with the taxonomic characterization or
distributions of bacteria, or the identification of new biochemicals or
enzymes from marine organisms, are excluded from consideration within
this notice.
Application of Molecular Tools to Microbes Mediating Carbon and
Nitrogen Cycling
This notice encourages applications that use molecular approaches
to study marine microbial processes, in particular, carbon and nitrogen
cycling. Insights can be gained from application of biotechnological
tools to carbon sequestration and storage, nitrogen fixation and
denitrification. Knowledge of the genes responsible for these
processes, and most importantly, the expression of these genes in
marine environments is needed. The mechanisms by which environmental
factors regulate gene expression in ocean margin environments will help
us to understand the natural controls on these processes.
The advent of modern molecular biology has provided powerful tools
for examining genes and gene expression. Molecular methods are now
being applied to research problems in marine biology, including the
enzymes involved in carbon fixation (e.g., ribulose bisphosphate
carboxylase), nitrogen fixation (e.g., nitrogenase) and denitrification
(e.g., nitrate reductase). Examples of enabling biotechnologies include
in situ polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify specific catabolic
genes within bacterial cells, and fluorescent in situ hybridization
(FISH) to elucidate genotypes in microbial communities. A fundamental
knowledge of molecular regulatory mechanisms of photosynthesis and
nitrogen cycling in the oceans is needed.
Environmental Factors That Affect Linkages Between Carbon and
Nitrogen Cycling
Environmental factors such as nutrient availability, temperature,
irradiance, and biopolymer lability affect the coupling and decoupling
of primary production, bacterial respiration, POM and DOM formation,
and nitrogen metabolism in coastal areas. The impact of individual
environmental factors and synergistic effects of multiple environmental
factors, on these processes is poorly understood. This notice
encourages applications that address the environmental controls on
carbon and nitrogen cycles, and their coupling and decoupling. An
understanding of these linkages is critical to monitoring and
predicting potential changes due to physical, chemical or biological
factors, and may ultimately contribute to the development of algorithms
for use in interpreting remotely sensed ocean color data.
Collaborative Partnerships
Research applications shall include a mutually collaborative
partnership between institutions that have a strong tradition of
research in the marine sciences and those institutions with developing
research capabilities in marine science. Participation of institutions
with a high proportion of groups that are under represented in the
sciences are particularly encouraged. Examples of collaborative
activities include co-investigator status, periodic exchanges of
researcher-in-residence between institutions, and joint supervision of
research students. It is critical that both institutions have key roles
in the collaboration. One institution should serve as the primary
applicant with a subcontract to the collaborative institution. The
application should:
Clearly state the nature of the collaborative research
agreement between the institutions;
Define respective research roles and responsibilities of
scientists at each institution;
Describe how the partnership between the institutions will
be effected (e.g., team meetings, shared students, etc.); and
Provide separate institutional budgets.
In addition, the applicants will need to show how their proposed
collaborative research addresses the goals stated in this notice and
convey a commitment to developing research partnerships between
respective institutions. Additional information on collaboration is
available in the Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial
Assistance Program that is available via the Internet at http://
www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/Colab.html.
It is anticipated that a total of up to $2 million will be
available for multiple grants awarded in FY2000 and FY2001, contingent
upon availability of appropriated funds. Applications may request
project support up to three years, with out-year support contingent on
availability of funds, progress of the research and programmatic needs.
Annual budgets are expected to range from approximately $50,000
depending on the number of partnerships involved the nature of the
research proposed. Applications should include detailed budgets for
each year of support requested.
Applications will be subjected to formal merit review (peer review)
and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria which
are listed in descending order of importance codified at 10 CFR
605.10(d):
1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project;
2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach;
3. Competency of Applicant's Personnel and Adequacy of Proposed
Resources;
4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.
The evaluation will include program policy factors such as the
relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and
the agency's programmatic needs. Note, external peer reviewers are
selected with regard to both their scientific expertise and the absence
of conflict-of-interest issues. Non-federal reviewers may be used, and
submission of an application constitutes agreement that this is
acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution.
Information about the development, submission of applications,
eligibility,
[[Page 63800]]
limitations, evaluation, the selection process, and other policies and
procedures may be found in 10 CFR Part 605, and in the Application
Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program.
Electronic access to the Guide and required forms is made available via
the World Wide Web at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/
grants.html. In addition, for this notice, the Project Description must
be 20 pages or less, exclusive of attachments, and the application must
contain a Table of Contents, an abstract or project summary, letters of
intent from collaborators (if any) and short curriculum vitae
consistent with National Institutes of Health guidelines. On the SC
grant face page, form DOE F4650.2, in block 15, also provide the PI's
phone number, fax number, and E-mail address. Lengthy application
appendices are not encouraged.
The Office of Science as part of its grant regulations requires at
10 CFR 605.11(b) that a recipient receiving a grant and performing
research involving recombinant DNA molecules and/or organisms and
viruses containing recombinant DNA molecules shall comply with NIH
``Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules,'' which
is available via the world wide web at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/odhsb/
biosafe/nih/rdna-apr98.pdf, (59 FR 34496, July 5, 1994), or such later
revision of those guidelines as may be published in the Federal
Register.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this
program is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10
CFR part 605.
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 8, 1999.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 99-30359 Filed 11-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-U
