Biology Commons^™

Midguts, Microbes, And Mosquitoes: An Analysis Of The Microbiomes Of Aedes Aegypti And Aedes Albopictus, Flor Alicia Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

Experiment 1: Mosquito microbiomes are influenced by the environment and diets of mosquitoes. There is great variability within and among mosquito populations with few microbe inhabitants being well established among mosquitoes of similar species and environments. By understanding the potential variation in midgut microbiomes in lab and wild populations, we may assess the effect that microbiomes have on vector competency.

Experiment 2: Mosquito midgut microbes are essential for development and may influence the vector competency. Native and non-native strains of the midgut inhabitant, Cedecea, were introduced to laboratory colonies of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes to help elucidate …

Microbial Ecology Of South Florida Surface Waters: Examining The Potential For Anthropogenic Influences, Chase P. Donnelly

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

South Florida contains one of the largest subtropical wetlands in the world, and yet not much is known about the microbes that live in these surface waters. These microbes play an important role in chemical cycling and maintaining good water quality for both human and ecosystem health. The hydrology of Florida’s surface waters is tightly regulated with the use of canal and levee systems run by the US Army Corps of Engineers and The South Florida Water Management District. These canals run through the Everglades, agriculture, and urban environments to control water levels in Lake Okeechobee, the Water Conservation Areas, …

Changes In The Microbial Community Of Lubomirskia Baicalensis Affected By Red Sponge Disease, Colin Rorex

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lake Baikal is the oldest known lake and a unique ecosystem, home to several species of fresh water sponge. A disease outbreak affecting the dominant species, Lubormirskia baialensis, was recently reported. The cause of the disease has not been determined but one of the current hypothesis is that the increase in methane concentration is correlated to the disease outbreak. This pilot study characterized the microbiomes of sick and healthy sponges through the use of 16S rRNA sequencing. Sick sponge microbiomes shared a conserved group of taxa while the healthy sponge microbiomes had greater diversity. Indicator species analysis identified two significant …

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 …

Long-Term Irrigation Affects The Dynamics And Activity Of The Wheat Rhizosphere Microbiome, Dmitri V. Mavrodi, Olga Mavrodi, Liam D.H. Elbourne, Sasha Tetu, Robert F. Bonsall, James Parejko, Mingming Yang, Ian T. Paulsen, David M. Weller, Linda S. Thomashow

Faculty Publications

The Inland Pacific Northwest (IPNW) encompasses 1. 6 million cropland hectares and is a major wheat-producing area in the western United States. The climate throughout the region is semi-arid, making the availability of water a significant challenge for IPNW agriculture. Much attention has been given to uncovering the effects of water stress on the physiology of wheat and the dynamics of its soilborne diseases. In contrast, the impact of soil moisture on the establishment and activity of microbial communities in the rhizosphere of dryland wheat remains poorly understood. We addressed this gap by conducting a three-year field study involving wheat …

Market Integration Predicts Human Gut Microbiome Attributes Across A Gradient Of Economic Development, Keaton Stagaman, Tara J. Cepon-Robins, Melissa A. Liebert, Theresa E. Gildner, Samuel S. Urlacher, Felicia C. Madimenos, Karen Guillemin, J. Josh Snodgrass, Lawrence S. Sugiyama, Brendan J. M. Bohannan

Publications and Research

Economic development is marked by dramatic increases in the incidence of microbiome-associated diseases, such as autoimmune diseases and metabolic syndromes, but the lifestyle changes that drive alterations in the human microbiome are not known. We measured market integration as a proxy for economically related lifestyle attributes, such as ownership of specific market goods that index degree of market integration and components of traditional and nontraditional (more modern) house structure and infrastructure, and profiled the fecal microbiomes of 213 participants from a contiguous, indigenous Ecuadorian population. Despite relatively modest differences in lifestyle across the population, greater economic development correlated with significantly …

Effect Of The Specific Carbohydrate Diet On The Microbiome Of A Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis And Ulcerative Colitis Patient, Alanna Dubrovsky, Christopher Kitts

Biological Sciences

A 20-year-old female was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) at age 14 and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) at age 16. The PSC was successfully treated with high doses of oral vancomycin; however, the UC was more difficult to manage. After many drug treatments failed to treat the UC, the patient began following the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD). This report documents fecal microbiome changes resulting from following the SCD for two weeks. The DNA extracted from fecal samples was subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing to quantify bacterial species abundance. Not only were substantial changes in the fecal bacterial composition detectable …

Is There A Link Between Aging And Microbiome Diversity In Exceptional Mammalian Longevity?, Graham M. Hughes, John Leech, Sebastien J. Puechmaille, Jose V. Lopez, Emma C. Teeling

Biology Faculty Articles

A changing microbiome has been linked to biological aging in mice and humans, suggesting a possible role of gut flora in pathogenic aging phenotypes. Many bat species have exceptional longevity given their body size and some can live up to ten times longer than expected with little signs of aging. This study explores the anal microbiome of the exceptionally long-lived Myotis myotis bat, investigating bacterial composition in both adult and juvenile bats to determine if the microbiome changes with age in a wild, long-lived non-model organism, using non-lethal sampling. The anal microbiome was sequenced using metabarcoding in more than 50 …

Microbial Communities And Their Impact On Bioenergy Crops In Dynamic Environments, Brandon Monier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Native perennial grasses, such as prairie cordgrass (PCG, Spartina pectinata Link), and switchgrass (SG, Panicum virgatum L.) have a great potential as bioenergy crops, because they require fewer inputs, produce more energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to annual cropping systems such as corn and soybean. SG has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for development as bioenergy crop, but studies have shown that PCG can outcompete switchgrass in terms of biomass production. These crops can also form associations with a wide variety of plant growth promoting microbes including arbuscular mycorrhial (AM) fungi. In CHAPTER 2, …

Microorganisms Facilitate Uptake Of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen By Seagrass Leaves [Dataset], Flavia Tarquinio, Jeremy Bourgoure, Annette Koenders, Bonnie Laverock, Christin Säwström, Glenn A. Hyndes

Research Datasets

The database compiles data (used in Tarquinio et al. 2018, ISME Journal, accepted for publication) obtained from nitrogen stable isotope analysis (IRMS) and Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) of seagrass (Posidonia sinuosa) leaves and associated microorganisms. Row data (IRMS) are presented for bulk tissue ¹⁵N enrichment of P. sinuosa leaves at different times of incubation (plotted as bar chart in the manuscript), as well as the enrichment detected through the drawing of regions of interest (ROI) from NanoSIMS image analysis and plotted as box plots in the manuscript.

Increasing Alligator Snapping Turtle Head-Starting Success Through Housing Enrichment And Inoculation Of Hatchlings With Digestive Microbiota, Kristen Erin Sardina

MSU Graduate Theses

Due to historic overharvest and habitat degradation, the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) has experienced population declines throughout its range. Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery in southern Oklahoma began a captive head-start program for this species in 2000 and has since released over 1,400 turtles in the region. However, there has been a recurring trend of turtles growing faster after release than while in captivity. My research sought to investigate this pattern by determining: 1) the influence of housing enrichment and housing density on juvenile growth rates and stress in indoor enclosures, and 2) the effects of supplementing hatchlings …