Project description:Metagenomic sequencing provides a window into microbial community structure and metabolic potential; however, linking these data to exogenous metabolites that microorganisms process and produce (the exometabolome) remains challenging. Previously, we observed strong exometabolite niche partitioning among bacterial isolates from biological soil crust (biocrust). Here we examine native biocrust to determine if these patterns are reproduced in the environment. Overall, most soil metabolites display the expected relationship (positive or negative correlation) with four dominant bacteria following a wetting event and across biocrust developmental stages. For metabolites that were previously found to be consumed by an isolate, 70% are negatively correlated with the abundance of the isolate’s closest matching environmental relative in situ, whereas for released metabolites, 67% were positively correlated. Our results demonstrate that metabolite profiling, shotgun sequencing and exometabolomics may be successfully integrated to functionally link microbial community structure with environmental chemistry in biocrust.
Project description:description Blastocystis sp. is a highly prevalent anaerobic eukaryotic parasite of humans and animals. The genome of several representatives has been sequenced revealing specific traits such as an intriguing 3’-end processing of primary transcripts. We have acquired a first high-throughput proteomics dataset on the difficult to cultivate ST4 isolate WR1 and detected 2,761 proteins. We evidenced for the first time by proteogenomics a functional termination codon derived from transcript polyadenylation for seven different key cellular components.
Project description:The survival, pollutant degradation activity and transcriptome response was monitored in Sphingomonas sp. LH128 inoculated into soil. Cultivable cell numbers were determined by plating, while phenanthrene degradation was monitored by HPLC. The genetic base for the adaptive strategy of LH128 in soil was investigated by using microarray consisting 7,200 gene-coding ORFs. During 4 hours of incubation, 510 genes were differentially expressed (317 increased and 193 reduced expression) while 610 genes were differentially expressed (318 increased and 292 reduced) after 10 days of incubation. Genes with increased expression comprised of gene encoding PAH catabolic enzymes, stress resistance, oxidative stress tolerance, outer membrane proteins/porins and efflux pump proteins while the downregulated genes comprised of genes encoding flagellar biosynthesis, ribosomal proteins and ATPase. Transcriptomic response of phenanthrene degrading Sphingomonas sp. LH128 inoculated into phenanthrene contaminated soil after 4h and after 10 days of incubation was studied using genome-wide gene expression analysis. For this purpose, the strain was pregrown in minimal medium and inoculated at appropriated celld densitites. RNA was extracted both from soil and and from initial inoculum and cDNA was synthesized and labeled with Cy3. Transcriptomic response in soil of three replicates per conditions after both incubation duration were analyzed and compared with the initial inoculum