Project description:Microcosms made of filtered seawater innoculated with Enterococcus faecalis v583 were exposed to artificial sunlight to investigate photoinactivation mechanisms. Microcosms exposed to artificial sunlight were compared to dark controls. Three experiments were done on three separate days. During every experiment, the light and dark microcosms were samples at the begining (time = 0 hours) and then at 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours.
Project description:The decomposition of large woody material is an important process in forest carbon cycling and nutrient release. Cord-forming saprotrophic basidiomycete fungi create non-resource limited mycelial networks between decomposing branches, logs and tree stumps on the forest floor where colonisation of new resource is often associated with the replacement of incumbent decay communities. Cord-forming species often dominate competition hierarchies in controlled paired antagonism experiments and have been shown to translocate resource to support colonisation and produce inhibitory metabolites. To date, antagonism experiments have mostly placed competing fungi in direct contact, while in nature cord-forming saprobes encounter colonised wood as mycelia in a network. Here we used soil-based microcosms that allowed foraging cord-forming Hypholoma fasciculare to encounter a wood block colonised by Trametes versicolor and conducted transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of the interaction. Cellular processes and metabolic responses to the competitive interaction were identified, where protein turnover featured strongly for both species. H. fasciculare demonstrated an exploitative profile with increased transcription of enzymes that targeted carbohydrate polymers of the substrate and in RNA and ribosome processing. T. versicolor showed a shift in signalling, energy generation and amino acid metabolism. Putative genes involved in secondary metabolite production were identified in both species. This study highlights the importance of ecologically-relevant experimental design when considering complex processes such as community development during wood decomposition
Project description:We investigated a contaminant-degrading microbial community by sequencing total RNA (without rRNA depletion) from microcosms containing sediment from a hypoxic contaminated aquifer fed with isotopically labeled toluene.
Project description:Analysis of Culex quinquefasciatus responses to West Nile virus (WNV) infection at 7 and 14 days after ingestion of infected blood in the gut and carcass tissues. Comparison of WNV-infected to non-infected carcass and gut samples.
