Soil Microbial Community Response To Climate Change: Results From A Temperate Kentucky Pasture, 2012 University of Kentucky
Soil Microbial Community Response To Climate Change: Results From A Temperate Kentucky Pasture, Lindsey C. Slaughter
Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences
Climate change is likely to alter plant species composition and interactions between plants and soil microbes that together dictate the quantity and quality of forage produced in pastures, the base of animal production in central Kentucky. This study assessed the seasonal dynamics of soil microbes and their response to increased temperature (+3oC) and growing season precipitation (+30% of the mean annual). Total soil microbial biomass, community composition, enzyme activities, potential carbon mineralization, and catabolic responses to selected substrates were measured seasonally in the different climate treatments. In this system, seasonal variability was a dominant driving factor for all …
Survey Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria In Fish Gut Collected From Selected Sites., 2011 Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne
Survey Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria In Fish Gut Collected From Selected Sites., Ahmed Mustafa, Hasina Karki, Arlis Lamaster, Bob Gillespie, Shree Dhawale
Ahmed Mustafa Dr.
No abstract provided.
Do Larval Traits Re-Evolve? Evidence From The Embryogenesis Of A Direct-Developing Salamander, Plethodon Cinereus, 2011 Dalhousie University
Do Larval Traits Re-Evolve? Evidence From The Embryogenesis Of A Direct-Developing Salamander, Plethodon Cinereus, Ryan Kerney, David Blackburn, Hendrik Muller, James Hanken
Ryan Kerney
Recent molecular phylogenies suggest the surprising reacquisition of posthatching metamorphosis within an otherwise directdeveloping clade of lungless salamanders (family Plethodontidae). Metamorphosis was long regarded as plesiomorphic for plethodontids, yet the genus Desmognathus, which primarily includes metamorphosing species, is now nested within a much larger clade of direct-developing species. The extent to which the putative reacquisition of metamorphosis in Desmognathus represents a true evolutionary reversal is contingent upon the extent to which both larva-specific features and metamorphosis were actually lost during the evolution of direct development. In this study we analyze development of the hyobranchial skeleton, which is dramatically remodeled during …
Diversity Of Bacteria And Archaea In Hypersaline Sediment From Death Valley National Park, California, 2011 Wesleyan University
Diversity Of Bacteria And Archaea In Hypersaline Sediment From Death Valley National Park, California, J.-S. Kim, M. Makama, J. Petito, N.-H. Park, Frederick M. Cohan, R. S. Dungan
Frederick M. Cohan
No abstract provided.
The Variable Subdomain Of Escherichia Coli Seca Functions To Regulate Seca Atpase Activity And Adp Release, 2011 Wesleyan University
The Variable Subdomain Of Escherichia Coli Seca Functions To Regulate Seca Atpase Activity And Adp Release, Sanchaita Das, Lorry M. Grady, Jennifer Michtavy, Yayan Zhou, Frederick M. Cohan, Manju M. Hingorani, Donald B. Oliver
Frederick M. Cohan
No abstract provided.
Diversity Of Bacteria And Archaea In Hypersaline Sediment From Death Valley National Park, California, 2011 Wesleyan University
Diversity Of Bacteria And Archaea In Hypersaline Sediment From Death Valley National Park, California, J.-S. Kim, M. Makama, J. Petito, N.-H. Park, Frederick M. Cohan, R. S. Dungan
Frederick M. Cohan
No abstract provided.
Comment On "Population Genomics Of Early Events In The Ecological Differentiation Of Bacteria", 2011 Wesleyan University
Comment On "Population Genomics Of Early Events In The Ecological Differentiation Of Bacteria", Sarah M. Kopac, Frederick M. Cohan
Frederick M. Cohan
No abstract provided.
Enhanced Microbial Utilization Of Recalcitrant Cellulose By An Ex Vivo Cellulosome-Microbe Complex, 2011 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Enhanced Microbial Utilization Of Recalcitrant Cellulose By An Ex Vivo Cellulosome-Microbe Complex, Chun You, Xiao-Zhou Zhang, Noppadon Sathitsuksanoh, Lee R. Lynd
Dartmouth Scholarship
A cellulosome-microbe complex was assembled ex vivo on the surface of Bacillus subtilis displaying a miniscaffoldin that can bind with three dockerin-containing cellulase components: the endoglucanase Cel5, the processive endoglucanase Cel9, and the cellobiohydrolase Cel48. The hydrolysis performances of the synthetic cellulosome bound to living cells, the synthetic cellulosome, a noncomplexed cellulase mixture with the same catalytic components, and a commercial fungal enzyme mixture were investigated on low-accessibility recalcitrant Avicel and high accessibility regenerated amorphous cellulose (RAC). The cellbound cellulosome exhibited 4.5- and 2.3-fold-higher hydrolysis ability than cell-free cellulosome on Avicel and RAC, respectively. The cellulosome-microbe synergy was not completely …
Potential For Nitrogen Fixation And Nitrification In The Granite-Hosted Subsurface At Henderson Mine, Co, 2011 University of Colorado Boulder
Potential For Nitrogen Fixation And Nitrification In The Granite-Hosted Subsurface At Henderson Mine, Co, Elizabeth D. Swanner, Alexis S. Templeton
Elizabeth D. Swanner
The existence of life in the deep terrestrial subsurface is established, yet few studies have investigated the origin of nitrogen that supports deep life. Previously, 16S rRNA gene surveys cataloged a diverse microbial community in subsurface fluids draining from boreholes 3000 feet deep at Henderson Mine, CO, USA (Sahl et al., 2008). The prior characterization of the fluid chemistry and microbial community forms the basis for the further investigation here of the source of NH4+. The reported fluid chemistry included N2, NH4+ (5–112 μM), NO2− (27–48 μM), and NO3− (17–72 μM). In this study, the correlation between low NH4+ concentrations …
Exploring The Effects Of Hypoxia On Sulfate Reducing Anaerobes, 2011 University of Rhode Island
Exploring The Effects Of Hypoxia On Sulfate Reducing Anaerobes, Annaliese K. Jones
Senior Honors Projects
Exploring the Effects of Hypoxia on Sulfate Reducing Anaerobes
Annaliese K. Jones
Sponsor: Bethany Jenkins, Cell and Molecular Biology
As a student about to graduate with a degree in Biological Sciences, I find myself faced with the need to find my own independent research interests and scientific voice. As a result of my interests in the fields of both microbiology and ecology, I am drawn to questions surrounding the role and behavior of microorganisms in the environment. With climate change being an issue capturing the attention of a large portion of the scientific community, I have chosen to focus my …
Zap1 Control Of Cell-Cell Signaling In Candida Albicans Biofilms, 2011 Carnegie Mellon University
Zap1 Control Of Cell-Cell Signaling In Candida Albicans Biofilms, Shantanu Ganguly, Andrew C. Bishop, Wenjie Xu, Suman Ghosh, Kenneth W. Nickerson, Frederick Lanni, Jana Patton-Vogt, Aaron P. Mitchell
Kenneth Nickerson Papers
Biofilms of Candida albicans include both yeast cells and hyphae. Prior studies indicated that a zap1/ mutant, defective in zinc regulator Zap1, has increased accumulation of yeast cells in biofilms. This altered yeast-hypha balance may arise from internal regulatory alterations or from an effect on the production of diffusible quorum-sensing (QS) molecules. Here, we develop biosensor reporter strains that express yeastspecific YWP1-RFP or hypha-specific HWP1-RFP, along with a constitutive TDH3-GFP normalization standard. Seeding these biosensor strains into biofilms allows a biological activity assay of the surrounding biofilm milieu. A zap1/ biofilm induces the yeast-specific YWP1-RFP reporter in a wild-type …
Gravesoil Microbial Community Structure During Carcass Decomposition, 2011 University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Gravesoil Microbial Community Structure During Carcass Decomposition, Amy E. Maile
Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Dead bodies placed on soil represent unique challenges for investigators. Although processes in soils can be used to estimate postmortem interval, we know very little about how carcasses and insects affect gravesoil microbial communities.
To address this, the current project was composed of two experiments. Experiment one was conducted to investigate the effect of surface type on carcass decomposition and evaluate soil ecology methods. Experiment two was conducted to investigate the presence of an insect population (Lucilia sericata Meigen) on gravesoil microbial communities. Both experiments were conducted in a laboratory setting using freshly killed mouse carcasses. Mouse carcasses were …
High Ethanol Titers From Cellulose By Using Metabolically Engineered Thermophilic, Anaerobic Microbes, 2011 Mascoma Corporation
High Ethanol Titers From Cellulose By Using Metabolically Engineered Thermophilic, Anaerobic Microbes, D. Aaron Argyros, Shital A. Tripathi, Trisha F. Barrett, Stephen R. Rogers, Lawrence F. Feinberg, Daniel G. Olson, Justin M. Foden, Bethany B. Miller, Lee R. Lynd, David A. Hogsett, Nicky C. Caiazza
Dartmouth Scholarship
This work describes novel genetic tools for use in Clostridium thermocellum that allow creation of unmarked mutations while using a replicating plasmid. The strategy employed counter-selections developed from the native C. thermocellum hpt gene and the Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum tdk gene and was used to delete the genes for both lactate dehydrogenase (Ldh) and phosphotransacetylase (Pta). The Δldh Δpta mutant was evolved for 2,000 h, resulting in a stable strain with 40:1 ethanol selectivity and a 4.2-fold increase in ethanol yield over the wild-type strain. Ethanol production from cellulose was investigated with an engineered coculture of organic acid-deficient engineered strains of …
Ecology And Genetic Structure Of A Northern Temperate Vibrio Cholerae Population Related To Toxigenic Isolates, 2011 University of New Hampshire, Durham
Ecology And Genetic Structure Of A Northern Temperate Vibrio Cholerae Population Related To Toxigenic Isolates, Brian M. Schuster, Anna L. Tyzik, Rachel A. Donner, Megan J. Striplin, Salvador Almagro-Moreno
Dartmouth Scholarship
Although Vibrio cholerae is an important human pathogen, little is known about its populations in regions where the organism is endemic but where cholera disease is rare. A total of 31 independent isolates confirmed as V. cholerae were collected from water, sediment, and oysters in 2008 and 2009 from the Great Bay Estuary (GBE) in New Hampshire, a location where the organism has never been detected. Environmental analyses suggested that abundance correlates most strongly with rainfall events, as determined from data averaged over several days prior to collection. Phenotyping, genotyping, and multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) revealed a highly diverse endemic …
Koufax's Perfect Game--The Tale Of The Data, 2011 Wesleyan University
Koufax's Perfect Game--The Tale Of The Data, Frederick Cohan
Frederick M. Cohan
No abstract provided.
Group Size And Nest Spacing Affect Buggy Creek Virus (Togaviridae: Alphavirus) Infection In Nestling House Sparrows, 2011 University of Tulsa
Group Size And Nest Spacing Affect Buggy Creek Virus (Togaviridae: Alphavirus) Infection In Nestling House Sparrows, Valerie A. Brown, Charles R. Brown
Papers in Ornithology
The transmission of parasites and pathogens among vertebrates often depends on host population size, host species diversity, and the extent of crowding among potential hosts, but little is known about how these variables apply to most vector-borne pathogens such as the arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses). Buggy Creek virus (BCRV; Togaviridae: Alphavirus) is an RNA arbovirus transmitted by the swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius) to the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the introduced house sparrow (Passer domesticus) that has recently invaded swallow nesting colonies. The virus has little impact on cliff swallows, but house sparrows are seriously …
Sunscreen Biosynthesis In Cyanobacteria, 2011 Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne
Sunscreen Biosynthesis In Cyanobacteria, Tanya Soule
Tanya Soule
No abstract provided.
Human Pathogen Shown To Cause Disease In The Threatened Elkhorn Coral Acropora Palmata, 2011 Rollins College
Human Pathogen Shown To Cause Disease In The Threatened Elkhorn Coral Acropora Palmata, Kathryn Patterson Sutherland, Sameera Shaban, Jessica L. Joyner, James W. Porter, Erin K. Lipp
Faculty Publications
Coral reefs are in severe decline. Infections by the human pathogen Serratia marcescens have contributed to precipitous losses in the common Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, culminating in its listing under the United States Endangered Species Act. During a 2003 outbreak of this coral disease, called acroporid serratiosis (APS), a unique strain of the pathogen, Serratia marcescens strain PDR60, was identified from diseased A. palmata, human wastewater, the non-host coral Siderastrea siderea and the corallivorous snail Coralliophila abbreviata. In order to examine humans as a source and other marine invertebrates as vectors and/or reservoirs of the APS pathogen, challenge experiments …
A Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Microbial Communities In Great Boiling Spring, Nevada, U.S.A., 2011 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
A Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Microbial Communities In Great Boiling Spring, Nevada, U.S.A., Jessica K. Guy, Joseph P. Peacock, Jeremy A. Dodsworth, Tanja Woyke, Tijana G. Del Rio, Brian P. Hedlund
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
Great Boiling Spring (GBS) is a large, circumneutral, long residence time geothermal spring in the US Great Basin. Twelve samples were taken from four different sediment sites and the planktonic community in the bulk water of GBS on up to four different dates. Microbial community composition and diversity was assessed by using a barcoded, improved universal primer set targeting the V8 portion of the 16S rRNA gene and PCR. Over 200,000 products were sequenced using the Roche 454 GS FLX Titanium System. Sediment and planktonic microbial communities were distinct with very little overlap, regardless of the sampling location or temperature. …
Biological Effects On Serpentinite Weathering, 2011 Otterbein University
Biological Effects On Serpentinite Weathering, Mary H. Evert, Julie Baumeister, Elisabeth Hausrath
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
Serpentinites, perhaps more than any other rock type, control the composition and evolution of the development of the surrounding ecosystems. The bulk chemistry of serpentinite rocks, high in Mg and trace elements, and low in nutrients such as Ca, K, P, and N, causes an extreme and stressful environment for ecosystems. However, the role that those serpentine ecosystems play in development of serpentine soils has not been examined.
Due to the unusual chemistry of serpentine soils, serpentine ecosystems have deeper and better-developed root systems than other ecosystems. The rhizosphere of serpentine systems, documented to produce abundant organic acids and siderophores, …