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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Characterization Of The Marine Sponge Amphimedon Compressa Microbiome Across A Spatial Gradient, Renee Michelle Potens May 2016

Characterization Of The Marine Sponge Amphimedon Compressa Microbiome Across A Spatial Gradient, Renee Michelle Potens

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Diverse and ecologically important microbial communities (microbiomes) are symbiotic within marine sponges. In this study, the microbiome of Amphimedon compressa from three sample locations (Broward and Dade Counties, Southeast Florida, USA and the Southern Caribbean, Bocas del Toro, Panama) is characterized using 16S rRNA Illumina sequencing. The predominant taxa are Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria, as expected for Low Microbial Abundance sponges, accounting for over 53% of the total microbiome community. The numbers of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) decrease from Broward County (2,900) to Dade County (2,300) and then Bocas del Toro (1,200). The correlates to a decreasing north-south gradient of …


A Tale Of Two Theories: Using An Engineered Strain Of E. Coli To Bridge The Gap Between Quorum Sensing And Diffusion Sensing, Cortney E. Wilson Apr 2016

A Tale Of Two Theories: Using An Engineered Strain Of E. Coli To Bridge The Gap Between Quorum Sensing And Diffusion Sensing, Cortney E. Wilson

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Cooperation is a trait that is found at all levels of biological organization. Interestingly, cooperation appears to occur in bacteria that produce small, easily diffusible molecules called autoinducers. To understand why bacteria produce these autoinducers, the scientific community has focused on one predominant theory called quorum sensing. Under this theory, bacteria produce autoinducers so they can sense the density of the population. Once a sufficiently high population density is reached, autoinducers initiate the production of a costly gene product that serves to benefit the population. In contrast, a competing theory called diffusion sensing suggests that autoinducers are used by the …