Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons^™

Response Of Soil Nitrification To The Veterinary Pharmaceuticals Monensin, Ivermectin And Zinc Bacitracin, Magda A. Konopka

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Pharmaceutical residues can reach agricultural land through amendment with animal or human waste. Since 2010, a series of replicated plots received annual applications of ivermectin, monensin and zinc bacitracin, either singly or in a mixture, at 0.1 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg concentrations. I collected soil samples before and after the fourth annual application of pharmaceuticals and assayed them for functional changes and amoA gene abundance, a gene needed for ammonia oxidation. In 2013, I exposed the soils to 100 mg/kg in a laboratory experiment which resulted in acceleration of nitrification. Under 10 mg/kg treatments in the field the abundance of …

Characterizing The Human Vaginal Microbiome Using High-Throughput Sequencing, Jean Megan E. Macklaim

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The human vaginal microbiome undoubtedly has a significant role in reproductive health and for protection from infectious organisms. Recent efforts to characterize the bacterial species of the vagina using molecular techniques have uncovered an unexpected diversity. Using high-throughput sequencing I sought to describe the structure and function of the vaginal microbiome under different physiological states including healthy, bacterial vaginosis (BV), post-menopausal vaginal atrophy, and acute vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC).

Partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that healthy, asymptomatic women most often have vaginal biotas dominated by Lactobacillus iners or L. crispatus. In contrast, BV is a heterogeneous, highly diversified condition …