Life Sciences Commons^™

Desert Plant Bacteria Reveal Host Influence And Beneficial Plant Growth Properties, Abdul Aziz Eida, Maren Ziegler, Feras F. Lafi, Craig T. Michell, Christian R. Voolstra, Heribert Hirt, Maged M. Saad

All Works

© 2018 Eida et al.This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Deserts, such as those found in Saudi Arabia, are one of the most hostile places for plant growth. However, desert plants are able to impact their surrounding microbial community and select beneficial microbes that promote their growth under these extreme conditions. In this study, we examined the soil, rhizosphere and endosphere bacterial communities of four native desert plants Tribulus terrestris, Zygophyllum simplex, …

Effect Of Carbohydrates On The Gut Microbiome, Maciej Filar, Mohit S. Verma

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The microbiome within the gut is directly linked to biological processes within a person, influencing factors such as metabolism, signaling pathways, and available nutrients. Long term dieting is known to alter ecological conditions within the gut, allowing certain types of microbes to flourish. Therefore, the overall health of an individual is ultimately influenced by shifts in the microbial community state caused by persistent dieting. This study investigates the connection between diet and the microbiome and draws an understanding of how common carbohydrates in food can affect bacterial composition. Using KBase software, anaerobic bacterial growth was investigated for bacteria subject to …

Investigation Of Bacterial Taxa As Biomarkers Of Fescue Toxicosis And Heat Stress In Grazing Beef Cows, Sarah Katherine Chewning

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fescue toxicosis in grazing beef cattle is caused by consumption of Ergot alkaloids associated with tall fescue (toxic fescue) and is responsible for substantial economic loss to the U.S. beef industry. Cattle consuming toxic fescue suffer adverse physiological responses, such as: hyperthermia, increased respiration rate (RR), poor reproduction and growth performance. Other adverse responses to fescue toxins include the retention of a winter hair coat and vasoconstriction in the extremities, which can lead to tissue necrosis. Identifying cattle with reduced susceptibility to fescue toxins would allow for efficient use of fescue pastures; thus, the objectives of this thesis was to: …

Airborne Bacteria In Earth's Lower Stratosphere Resemble Taxa Detected In The Troposphere: Results From A New Nasa Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (Abc), David J. Smith, Jayamary D. Ravichandar, Sunit Jain, Dale W. Griffin, Hongbin Yu, Qian Tan, James Thissen, Terry Lusby, Patrick Nicoll, Sarah Shedler

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Airborne microorganisms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere remain elusive due to a lack of reliable sample collection systems. To address this problem, we designed, installed, and flight-validated a novel Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC) for NASA's C-20A that can make collections for microbiological research investigations up to altitudes of 13.7 km. Herein we report results from the first set of science flights—four consecutive missions flown over the United States (US) from 30 October to 2 November, 2017. To ascertain how the concentration of airborne bacteria changed across the tropopause, we collected air during aircraft Ascent/Descent (0.3 to …

Development Of Methodology For Rapid Bacterial Detection In Complex Matrices Using Sers, Madeline Tucker

Masters Theses

Fresh foods, including meats and produce are the fastest growing market in the supermarket and the class of foods most likely to cause a bacterial foodborne illness. As the rate of consumption of perishable products increases, rapid detection of pathogens within the food supply becomes a critical issue. Current methods used for the detection of bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses are time consuming, expensive and often require selective enrichment. In this study we adapted a separation technique originally developed for PCR to extract bacteria from ground beef using β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and milk protein coated activated carbon (MP-CAC) as filtration agents. …

Plastics And Microplastics As Vectors For Bacteria And Human Pathogens, Amanda Lee Laverty

OES Theses and Dissertations

Since plastics degrade very slowly, they remain in the environment on much longer timescales than most natural substrates and can thus provide a novel habitat for colonization by bacterial communities. The full spectrum of relationships between plastics and bacteria, however, is little understood. The objective of this study was to examine marine plastic pollution as a substrate for bacteria, with particular focus on Vibrio spp., including the human pathogens, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Vibrio vulnificus.

Colonization experiments were set up in a tributary of the lower Chesapeake Bay to follow Vibrio spp. colonization and …

Synthesis And Preliminary Antimicrobial Analysis Of Isatin- Ferrocene And Isatin-Ferrocenyl Chalcone Conjugates, Amandeep Singh, Grant Fong, Jenny Liu, Yun-Hsuan Wu, Kevin Chang, William Park, Jihwan Kim, Christina Tam, Luisa W. Cheng, Kirkwood M. Land, Vipan Kumar

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

In this study, we outline the synthesis of isatin-ferrocenyl chalcone and 1H-1,2,3-triazole-tethered isatin-ferrocene conjugates along with their antimicrobial evaluation against the human mucosal pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis. The introduction of a triazole ring among the synthesized conjugates improved the activity profiles with most of the compounds in the library, exhibiting 100% growth inhibition in a preliminary susceptibility screen at 100 μM. IC50 determination of the most potent compounds in the set revealed an inhibitory range between 2 and 13 μM. Normal flora microbiome are unaffected by these compounds, suggesting that these may be new chemical scaffolds for the discovery of new …

Examining Manganese Oxidation In Bacteria Through Bioinformatics And Environmental Sampling, T'Onna Collins

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Manganese is an essential element for all living things. Manganese plays a role in geochemical cycles, like the nitrogen fixation cycle and the oxygen-evolving complex. The focus of this study is the manganese oxidation mechanism. Manganese oxidation plays a role in metabolic and antioxidant processes. Pseudomonas putida GB-1 is commonly used to study the process of manganese oxidation in bacteria. We used the previously identified Mn-oxidase genes, mopA, mnxG and mcoA, from P. putida GB-1 to look for conservation of manganese oxidation in other organisms. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) was used to find homologs of these three genes …

A New Age In Aquamedicine: Unconventional Approach In Studying Aquatic Diseases, Michael Gotesman, Simon Menanteau-Ledouble, Mona Saleh, Sven M. Bergmann, Mansour El-Matbouli

Publications and Research

Background

Marine and aquaculture industries are important sectors of the food production and global trade. Unfortunately, the fish food industry is challenged with a plethora of infectious pathogens. The freshwater and marine fish communities are rapidly incorporating novel and most up to date techniques for detection, characterization and treatment strategies. Rapid detection of infectious diseases is important in preventing large disease outbreaks.

Main text

One hundred forty-six articles including reviews papers were analyzed and their conclusions evaluated in the present paper. This allowed us to describe the most recent development research regarding the control of diseases in the aquatic environment …

Functional Similarity Of Prd-Containing Virulence Regulators In Bacillus Anthracis, Malik Raynor

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Bacillus anthracis produces three regulators, AtxA, AcpA, and AcpB, that control virulence gene expression and are members of an emerging class of regulators termed “PCVRs” (Phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase regulation Domain-Containing Virulence Regulators). AtxA controls expression of the toxin genes; lef, cya, and pag, and is the master virulence regulator and archetype PCVR. AcpA and AcpB are less well studied. AcpA and AcpB independently positively control transcription of the capsule biosynthetic operon capBCADE, and culture conditions that enhance AtxA activity result in capBCADE transcription in strains lacking acpA and acpB. RNA-Seq was used to assess the regulons of the …

Bacteriophages Of The Urinary Microbiome, Taylor Miller-Ensminger, Andrea Garretto, Jonathon Brenner, Krystal Thomas-White, Adriano Zambom, Alan J. Wolfe, Catherine Putonti

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) play a significant role in microbial community dynamics. Within the human gastrointestinal tract, for instance, associations amongst bacteriophages (phages), microbiota stability, and human health have been discovered. In contrast to the gastrointestinal tract, the phages associated with the urinary microbiota are largely unknown. Preliminary metagenomic surveys of the urinary virome indicate a rich diversity of novel lytic phage sequences, at an abundance far outnumbering eukaryotic viruses. These surveys, however, exclude the lysogenic phages residing within the bacteria of the bladder. To characterize this phage population, we examined 181 genomes representative of the phylogenetic diversity of bacterial species …

The Influence Of Conservation Tillage And Conventional Tillage On Soil Bacterial Diversity In Southern Illinois, Nasser Syed

Dissertations

Agriculture in the Midwest United States (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) is a critically important component of the United States economy and also for world exports of food grain. This is well reflected in the 2012 Census of Agriculture which showed that these states had a market value of crop and livestock products sold in excess of $80,000,000,000 (USDA, 2012). Within the U.S. the three Midwest states, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota are ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th for the economic value of crops sold. This economic value of agriculture in the Midwest encompasses not only corn, soybeans, …

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria In Water Environments In Louisville, Kentucky., Amy Priest

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Antibiotic resistant bacterial strains are an increasing problem, particularly in clinical health care settings. As a result, bacterial infections are becoming increasingly challenging to treat with more cases becoming life threatening. Aquatic environments facilitate microbial diversity and the transfer of genetic elements and thus may serve as a reservoir for antibiotic resistant microbes. Human misuse of antibiotics may further facilitate the spread of resistance in water environments. With little known about the bacteria communities in local water environments, this study aimed to learn more about these populations through the following aims: 1) identify the microbial community composition from water environments …

Identifying Rmda Protein Interactions In Streptomyces Using A Bacterial Two-Hybrid System, Rachel Nguyen

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Streptomyces is a genus of the phylum actinobacteria most commonly found as soil bacteria and used as a major source of antibiotics. RmdA and RmdB are phosphodiesterases that break down the ubiquitous second messenger cyclic-di-GMP which determines colony morphology and development of Streptomyces. The objective of this research is to identify whether RmdA will have interactions with itself using the Bacterial Adenylate Cyclase Two-Hybrid (BACTH) System. Each gene was fused into one of two BACTH vectors that encode a different domain of a single protein (T18 and T25) and then cotransformed into the BACTH indicator strain. The transformants were …

The Identification And Characterization Of A Putative Chromosome Segregation Gene In Streptomyces Coelicolor, Sean Kirk

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Streptomyces coelicolor is a soil bacterium that is a model for bacterial development. It is a filamentous, sporulating bacterium known to produce many medically utilized antibiotics. The goal of this research was to examine several developmental mutants and characterize novel genes of interest. Previously generated random transposon insertion mutants were analyzed using visual and microscopic phenotyping. Mutants of interest were further pursued and each transposon disruption site was identified by Inverse PCR and DNA sequencing. One of the novel genes is suspected to be involved in DNA segregation and codes for a putative membrane protein. Staining with propidium iodide was …

Assay Of The Reverse Osmosis Purified Water In The Life Science Building At Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Nicholas Mendenhall, Scott O. Rogers, Neocles B. Leontis

Honors Projects

Contaminated water sources can cause problems for scientific research and result in costly delays and failures of experiments. At Bowling Green State University, the reverse osmosis supply circulating in the Life Sciences Building has been measurably contaminated for nearly three years, corresponding to a change in servicing of the system. While servicing has been accelerated, the contamination in the system remains. The focus of this research was to identify the species of bacteria and fungi growing inside of the water system so that it might alert those servicing the system, and to begin to eliminate the contamination. Reverse osmosis water …

Discovery Of Geographical Gene Variants In Related Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Bacteriophages, Emilee Carr, Elise Melhado, Emily Loertscher, Trever Thurgood, Ruchira Sharma, Julianne H. Grose

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2019

Antibiotic resistant bacterial strains are a major crisis in the world due to the difficult nature of curing individuals afflicted with them. Phage therapy has been proposed as an alternate treatment for these bacterium. In Dr. Julianne Grose's lab, bacteriophages were against the bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. To isolate, environmental samples were utilized in enrichment cultures that were ultimately used in serial dilutions, plaque purification, electron microscopy, DNA isolation, sequencing, and genome annotation. The P. aeruginosa phage, TF17, infects a bacterial strain that is highly related to a strain that causes fatalities as an opportunistic infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. …

Characterization Of The Effects Of Heavy Charged Particle Exposure On The Radiation Resistant Bacterium Deinococcus Radiodurans, Todd A. Bryant

Theses and Dissertations

Although not an extremophile, Deinococcus radiodurans has proven to have exceptional resistance to ionizing radiation, specifically via gamma and X-ray photons. To date, no known experiments have bombarded the bacterium with charged particles larger than hydrogen. This study explored the effects on the organism’s ability to survive high linear energy transfer heavy-charged particle exposures of oxygen ions. It also investigated the effects of low linear energy transfer ultraviolet radiation on various mutants. Two uvrB mutants were created to ascertain the importance of the gene in single-strand break repair following gamma irradiation and two recF mutants were created to explore the …

Characterization Of Silicon Ion Exposure On Deinococcus Radiodurans, Richard F. Daughtry

Theses and Dissertations

Deinococcus radiodurans is a robust bacterium that is known for its extraordinary resistance to ionizing radiation. In general, many of the investigations of this bacterium's resistance have revolved around low linear energy transfer radiation, such as gamma and electron radiation. This study explored Deinococcus radiodurans's ability to survive high linear energy transfer radiation, specifically proton and neutron radiation. Deinococcus radiodurans was dehydrated to reduce the effects of low linear energy transfer radiation. The bacteria were exposed to both neutron and proton radiation of varying amounts and rehydrated. The resulting colonies were counted and compared to colonies of non-irradiated control samples …

Structure-Property Relationships Of Polymer Films And Hydrogels To Control Bacterial Adhesion, Kristopher W. Kolewe

Doctoral Dissertations

The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance across microbial species necessitates the need for alternative approaches to mitigate the risk of infection without relying on commercial antibiotics. Biofilm-related infections are a class of notoriously difficult to treat healthcare-associated infections that frequently develop on the surface of implanted medical devices. As biofilm formation is a surface-associated phenomenon, understanding how the intrinsic properties of materials affect bacterial adhesion enables the development of structure-property relationships that can guide the future design of infection-resistant materials. Despite lacking visual, auditory, and olfactory perception, bacteria still manage to sense and attach to surfaces. Previously, it has …

Do Host‐Associated Gut Microbiota Mediate The Effect Of An Herbicide On Disease Risk In Frogs?, Sarah A. Knutie, Caitlin R. Gabor, Kevin D. Kohl, Jason R. Rohr

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

1. Environmental stressors, such as pollutants, can increase disease risk in wildlife. For example, the herbicide atrazine affects host defences (e.g. resistance and tolerance) of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), but the mechanisms for these associations are not entirely clear. Given that pollutants can alter the gut microbiota of hosts, which in turn can affect their health and immune systems, one potential mechanism by which pollutants could increase infection risk is by influencing host‐associated microbiota.
2. Here, we test whether early‐life exposure to the estimated environmental concentration (EEC; 200 μg/L) of atrazine affects the gut bacterial composition of …

Relative Abundance Of Bacillus Spp., Surfactant-Associated Bacterium Present In A Natural Sea Slick Observed By Satellite Sar Imagery Over The Gulf Of Mexico, Kathryn Howe, Cayla W. Dean, John Alexander Kluge, Alexander Soloviev, Aurelien Tartar, Mahmood S. Shivji, Susanne Lehner, William Perrie

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The damping of short gravity-capillary waves (Bragg waves) due to surfactant accumulation under low wind speed conditions results in the formation of natural sea slicks. These slicks are detectable visually and in synthetic aperture radar satellite imagery. Surfactants are produced by natural life processes of many marine organisms, including bacteria, phytoplankton, seaweed, and zooplankton. In this work, samples were collected in the Gulf of Mexico during a research cruise on the R/V F.G. Walton Smith to evaluate the relative abundance of Bacillus spp., surfactant-associated bacteria, in the sea surface microlayer compared to the subsurface water at 0.2 m depth. A …

Influence Of Developmental Stage, Habitat, And Captivity On Thecutaneous Bacterial Communities Of Eastern Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus Alleganiensis Alleganiensis) In West Virginia, Rachel Fern Arrick

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Microbes inhabit virtually all surfaces of multicellular animal hosts, with microbial cells outnumbering the hosts’ own cells 10:1. Symbiont microbes, collectively referred to as the microbiome, can have profound impacts on the metabolism, development, behavior, and disease resistance of their multicellular hosts. Because the community structure of symbiont bacteria can influence host health, the characterization of amphibian microbiomes is becoming an increasingly important tool for future conservation in the face of global amphibian declines. Eastern hellbenders are good candidates for a microbiome study because they have seen substantial declines in recent decades and learning more about the environmental and physiological …

Bacterial Spot And Blight Diseases Of Ornamental Plants Caused By Different Xanthomonas Species In Turkey, Mustafa Mirik, Yesim Aysan, Fulya Baysal-Gurel

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Putative strains belonging to Xanthomonas spp. causing leaf spot and blight diseases on geranium (Pelargonium peltatum and P. hortorum), begonia (Begonia × tuberhybrida), anthurium (Anthurium andraeanum), Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), and English ivy (Hedera helix) growing in Turkey were isolated. All bacterial strains were classified as Gram-negative, oxidase negative, catalase, levan and starch hydrolysis positive, with hypersensitive reaction positive on tobacco and pathogenic to host plants. Identification of these strains was further confirmed by serological method using ELISA kits, conventional PCR, carbon utilisation, and FAME. Results of the identification showed that 28, 24, 10, 2, and 1 strains were identified …

Insights Into Key Gene Regulatory Networks In Borrelia Burgdorferi, William Kenneth Arnold

Theses and Dissertations--Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

Gene regulatory networks are composed of interconnected regulatory nodes created by regulatory factors of multiple types. All organisms finely tune gene expression in order to adapt to and survive within their current niche. Obligate parasitic bacteria are under extreme pressure to quickly and appropriately adapt their gene regulatory programs in order to survive within their given host. Borrelia burgdorferi is one such organism and persists in nature by alternating between two hosts; Ixodes spp. ticks and small vertebrate animals. These two hosts represent drastically different environments; requiring a unique gene regulatory program to survive and transmit between them. Microbiologists have …

Better Living Through Chemistry: Addressing Emerging Antibiotic Resistance, Nathan P. Coussens, Ashley L. Molinaro, Kayla J. Culbertson, Tyler Peryea, Gergely Zahoránszky-Köhalmi, Matthew D. Hall, Dayle A. Daines

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is recognized as a major threat to human health worldwide. While the use of small molecule antibiotics has enabled many modern medical advances, it has also facilitated the development of resistant organisms. This minireview provides an overview of current small molecule drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans, the unintended consequences of antibiotic use, and the mechanisms that underlie the development of drug resistance. Promising new approaches and strategies to counter antibiotic-resistant bacteria with small molecules are highlighted. However, continued public investment in this area is critical …

The Microbiome Stress Project: Toward A Global Meta-Analysis Of Environmental Stressors And Their Effects On Microbial Communities., Jennifer D Rocca, Marie Simonin, Joanna R Blaszczak, Jessica G Ernakovich, Sean M Gibbons, Firas S Midani, Alex D Washburne

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Microbial community structure is highly sensitive to natural (e.g., drought, temperature, fire) and anthropogenic (e.g., heavy metal exposure, land-use change) stressors. However, despite an immense amount of data generated, systematic, cross-environment analyses of microbiome responses to multiple disturbances are lacking. Here, we present the Microbiome Stress Project, an open-access database of environmental and host-associated 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing studies collected to facilitate cross-study analyses of microbiome responses to stressors. This database will comprise published and unpublished datasets re-processed from the raw sequences into exact sequence variants using our standardized computational pipeline. Our database will provide insight into general response patterns …

Determining The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Of Medium Chain Fatty Acids For Generic Escherichia Coli, Enterotoxigenic Escherichia Coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, And Campylobacter Coli, R. A. Cochrane, R. G. Amachawadi, S. E. Remfry, A. B. Lerner, T. G. Nagaraja, J. C. Woodworth, S. S. Dritz, M. D. Tokach, M. C. Niederwerder, C. K. Jones

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Research has demonstrated that medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) can serve as reduction strategies for bacterial and viral pathogens in animal feed and ingredients. However, it is unknown how the type or level of MCFA impact bacteria growth. This can be tested through a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) benchtop assay, which identifies the lowest concentration of a chemical that prevents visible growth of a bacterium. The objective of this study was to 1) determine the MCFA MIC of C6:0, C8:0, C10:0, and C12:0 for genericEscherichiacoli, EnterotoxigenicEscherichia coli,SalmonellaTyphimurium,Campylobactercoli, andClostridium perfringens; 2) …

Research Of Sustainable Jet Fuel Production Using Microbes, Rajee Olaganathan

Publications

Global climate change, coupled with rapidly increasing oil prices and energy demand around the world, has paved a way for intense research in the biofuel sector. Stakeholders in the aviation industry have started to focus on bio-jet fuel. Bio-jet fuel is regarded as a sustainable solution to greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand. This paper provides a brief review of the biofuel production technologies, the role of bacteria in producing hydrocarbons and the recent advancements in microbial engineering to enhance the biofuel production. Finally, this paper concludes by highlighting the challenges and future research implications in bio-jet fuel production.

Seasonal Shifts In The Insect Gut Microbiome Are Concurrent With Changes In Cold Tolerance And Immunity, Laura V. Ferguson, Pranav Dhakal, Jacqueline E. Lebenzon, David E. Heinrichs, Carol Bucking, Brent Sinclair

Biology Publications

1. Seasonal changes in the environment, such as varying temperature, have the potential to change the functional relationship between ectothermic animals, such as insects, and their microbiomes. Our objectives were to determine: (a) whether seasonal changes in temperature shift the composition of the insect gut microbiome, and (b) whether changes in the microbiome are concomitant with changes in the physiology of the host, including the immune system and response to cold.
2. We exposed laboratory populations of the spring field cricket, Gryllus veletis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), to simulated overwintering conditions in both a laboratory microcosm and a field‐like microcosm containing soil and leaves. …