Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

2010

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Properties Of Microbes In Natural Fire Burn Soils, Holly Anderson Aug 2010

Properties Of Microbes In Natural Fire Burn Soils, Holly Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Soil underlying a natural fire develops a hydrophobic soil sub-layer. This hydrophobicity decreases with time although the mechanisms are unresolved, but are thought to be biotic and abiotic. Some of the compounds accounting for hydrophobicity are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of which pyrene is an example.

Bacteria that grew on pyrene were isolated from burned soils at two sites in Utah in order to analyze the biotic microbial degradation of the hydrophobic soil sub-layer. The two sites were Wood Camp (Logan, UT) and Milford Flats (Central UT). Identifications of the genera of nine isolated bacteria were made through l6S rRNA …


Genetic And Biochemical Studies Of Plasmid Pir52-1 In Lactobacillus Helveticus, Cody Alexander Tramp May 2010

Genetic And Biochemical Studies Of Plasmid Pir52-1 In Lactobacillus Helveticus, Cody Alexander Tramp

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Lactobacillus helveticus is a species of lactic acid bacteria. These bacteria, which produce lactic acid as a major product of carbohydrate metabolism, are used industrially to produce cheese and other fermented dairy products (Ebringer et al., 2008). Many species of lactic acid bacteria also possess probiotic characteristics and when ingested potentially confer increased immune function, regulate gut microbiota, and improve digestion in the host (Reid, 2008). Genetic studies of these probiotic effects and other characteristics of L. helveticus and related species have been hindered by the lack of stably replicating plasmid vectors. Plasmid vectors for several Lactobacillus species have been …