Project description:The objective of this study was to identify the different functional genes involved in key biogeochemical cycles in the sub- Arctic regions. Understanding the microbial diversity in the Arctic region is an important step to determine the effects of climate change on these areas.
Project description:Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries (Ps-n) is a toxigenic marine diatom that produces the neurotoxin, domoic acid. We screened for candidate genes that may be involved in domoic acid production by determining changes in transcript profiles in Ps-n cultures that were in late exponential (low-domoic-acid-producing) vs. stationary (high-domoic-acid-producing) growth states. We also identified a number of candidate reference genes for future RT-qPCR studies, based on their stability in this study. Ps-n RNA was extracted from late exponential and stationary phase cultures. Experiments included one axenic culture, and two non-axenic cultures. Experiments were dye-swapped to account for differences in dye labeling and detection efficiencies: a) the axenic culture experiment included 4 technical replicate arrays (i.e., 2 dye-swapped experiments = 4 total hybridizations), and b) the non-axenic culture experiments each included 6 technical replicate arrays (i.e., 3 dye-swapped experiments = 6 total hybridizations).