Deep within the Earth
oil degrades to tarry mess and some methane gas Ian Head Newcastle University This relates to a project called Bacchus which examined various aspects of in-reservoir crude oil biodegradation and the formation of heavy oil reservoirs. Bacteria Sex?
In the Ocean it occurs? Sure, free DNA Marc Frischer Skidaway Institute of Oceanography During my dissertation studies I explored whether extracellular (free) DNA dissolved in ocean and estuarine waters had any genetic significance for living bacterial communities. The process of taking-up free DNA and incorporating genes into a living genome by bacteria is termed Natural Transformation. By exposing natural bacterial communities to dissolved DNA carrying specific genetic markers I discovered that it was possible for indigenous marine bacteria to incorporate genes from extracellular DNA. Further, I was able to quantify the rates that genes may be transferred via Natural Transformation and discovered that rates were of ecological significance. Additionally, I documented that in environments which naturally concentrate bacteria including in the guts of the detritivores and in filter feeding marine sponges, rates of natural transformation were increased. The dissertation was published in 1994 “Natural Plasmid Transformation in the Marine Environment” and is abstracted in ProQuest (document ID 304129006). Microbes in the sea:
Their RNAs are like words That tell life stories Rachel Poretsky University of Georgia My PhD research involved exploring the functional diversity of bacteria in marine environments through the direct retrieval and analysis of microbial gene transcripts (mRNA). I used a combination of metatranscriptomics (obtaining mRNA profiles from environmental samples) and whole genome microarrays in order to examine expression of environmentally relevant functional genes in the environment. This approach was shown to be one of the most effective ways of discovering connections between key activities and the organisms that mediate them. Who ate the methane?
and who is eating the oil? deep into the mud… Beth Orcutt University of Georgia I studied the fascinating microbes living in marine sediments that metabolize methane and other hydrocarbons. earthworm symbiont
happy to feed on urine sweet nephron, sweet home Marie Lund Aarhus University, Denmark I studied the evolution and function of the symbiosis between earthworms and bacteria living in their nephridia (excretory organs). Deep cold stinky mud
Microbes ate all the sulfate Time to make methane! Karen Lloyd University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill light wanes in water
antennae expand and change green, brown stratify. Julia Maresca Pennsylvania State University I studied the light-harvesting apparatus (antenna) of bacteria that live deep in lakes, and why those that make a brown-colored chlorophyll can live deeper in the water column, where there is less light, than those that make green-colored chlorophylls. Dig up deep sea mud
Give me your carbon and genes Who lives and eats there? Jennifer Biddle Pennsylvania State University My dissertation was on the isotopic and genomic characterization of microbial populations in subseafloor sediments. |
Publisher/EditorJanine Allwright
Graduate Student Walden University Public Policy and Public Administration Archives
December 2016
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