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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Natural And Lignocellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities In Great Boiling Spring, Nv, Jessica Cole Dec 2012

Natural And Lignocellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities In Great Boiling Spring, Nv, Jessica Cole

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The natural microbial communities present in Great Boiling Spring were investigated and contrasted against those present after in situ enrichment with lignocellulose. High-throughput cultivation-independent DNA sequencing of the V8 region of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene generated a total of 274,119 quality-filtered pyrosequencing fragments. Twelve natural spring samples were analyzed, including four high-temperature water samples and eight sediment samples ranging from 87 - 62 °C. Eight lignocellulosic enrichments incubated in the spring sediment and water at two high-temperature sites were analyzed. The natural water communities were found to be extremely uneven but relatively constant throughout time. The natural sediment …


Microbial Effects On The Production And Transformation Of Surfactants Within The Microlayer And Subsurface Waters In Application To Remote Sensing Techniques, Katie E. Vella Nov 2012

Microbial Effects On The Production And Transformation Of Surfactants Within The Microlayer And Subsurface Waters In Application To Remote Sensing Techniques, Katie E. Vella

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The sea surface microlayer is a millimeter-scale interfacial layer between the atmosphere and the ocean. A number of studies have suggested that there is a unique ecosystem for marine bacteria in the sea surface microlayer, but little information exists on the microbial community composition of this ecosystem due to sampling complexities. In this work, we present an improved method to sample and compare the bacterial diversity of the sea surface microlayer with that of subsurface water at the same site. Bacterial samples were collected from the sea surface microlayer with a sampling method, which minimized sample contamination from the research …


Spatial And Temporal Immune Response In House Flies In Response To Ingestion Of Bacillus Cereus And Eschericha Coli 0157-H7, Adam Fleming Oct 2012

Spatial And Temporal Immune Response In House Flies In Response To Ingestion Of Bacillus Cereus And Eschericha Coli 0157-H7, Adam Fleming

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

House flies (Musca domestica L.) feed and breed on septic substrates, putting them in direct contact with a multitude of disease causing agents and can act as a bridge for those agents to humans. The house fly has previously been shown to carry many different species of bacteria that are pathogenic. Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a pathogenic enterohemorrhagic serotype of E. coli that can be vectored by the house fly. Bacillus cereus is a foodborne pathogen that has also been isolated from the house fly in previous studies. To examine vector potential for these pathogens, house flies were fed green …


Ocean Acidification: Understanding The Coastal Carbon Pump In A High Co2 World, Rachel Cooper Aug 2012

Ocean Acidification: Understanding The Coastal Carbon Pump In A High Co2 World, Rachel Cooper

Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1800s, carbon dioxide emissions due to human activities have contributed significantly to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Approximately a third of this carbon is absorbed by the ocean, through air-sea fluxes at the ocean surface (Sabine, 2004). Increased CO2 has changed the carbon chemistry of the ocean and hence the pH. pH is expected to drop by 0.4 by the year 2100. It is unclear how this lower pH will affect carbon cycling and sequestration with respect to the biological carbon pump. Most studies have focused on open ocean phytoplankton or bacterial communities in large, stationary …


Microbial Community Structure And Ecosystem Function In A Changing World, Melissa Ann Cregger Aug 2012

Microbial Community Structure And Ecosystem Function In A Changing World, Melissa Ann Cregger

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the effects climate change will have on the structure and function of global ecosystems is a pressing ecological and social issue. Global change driven changes in atmospheric warming and precipitation régimes have begun to alter the distribution of plants and animals in, as well as the function of, ecosystems. Using two large-scale climate change manipulations, I assessed the effect of changing precipitation and temperature regimes on soil microbial community structure and function. Soil microbial communities regulate decomposition and nutrient cycling rates in ecosystems, thus understanding their response to climatic changes will enable scientists to better predict carbon feedbacks to …


Prevalence Of Copper Resistance Among Foliar Bacterial Pathogens Of Tomato In Tennessee, Jonathon Thomas Mixon May 2012

Prevalence Of Copper Resistance Among Foliar Bacterial Pathogens Of Tomato In Tennessee, Jonathon Thomas Mixon

Masters Theses

Foliar bacterial diseases are among the most important diseases of tomato. Bacterial spot is caused by four species: Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, X. vesicatoria, X. perforans, and X. gardneri, hereafter referred to as Xanthomonas spp. Bacterial speck is caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and bacterial canker is caused by Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis. Fixed copper products are relied upon extensively for control, due to a lack of effective and economical alternatives. Copper resistance in bacterial spot and speck pathogens has been reported worldwide. Copper resistance quite likely exists in Tennessee, but the extent has never been …


Diversity Of The Ohio River Bacterial Communities Using Next-Generation Sequencing Techniques, Emily Michele Anneken Jan 2012

Diversity Of The Ohio River Bacterial Communities Using Next-Generation Sequencing Techniques, Emily Michele Anneken

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The ability to sequence bacterial genetic material directly from environmental samples has unlocked the field of metagenomics. Next-generation sequencing techniques, such as pyrosequencing, have been instrumental in providing knowledge about bacterial communities. This study focused on identifying the bacterial diversity of the Ohio River via pyrosequencing and compared the diversity of cultivable bacteria versus the entire river community. To ensure the maximum number of cultivable bacteria was obtained, cultures were grown on nonselective media and incubated at river temperature. Bacterial DNA was extracted, sequenced, and classified. The dominant phyla for the Ohio River included Cyanobacteria (38-66% of the total), Actinobacteria …


The Role Of Clay Minerals In The Transformation Of E. Coli, Ekaterini Porttellou Jan 2012

The Role Of Clay Minerals In The Transformation Of E. Coli, Ekaterini Porttellou

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.