Project description:The application of chemical dispersants during marine oil spills can affect the community composition and activity of native marine microorganisms. Several studies have indicated that certain marine hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, such as Marinobacter spp., can be inhibited by chemical dispersants, resulting in lower abundances and/or reduced hydrocarbon-biodegradation rates. In this respect, a major knowledge gap exists in understanding the mechanisms underlying these observed physiological effects. Here, we performed comparative proteomics of the Deepwater Horizon isolate Marinobacter sp. TT1 grown under different conditions that varied regarding the supplied carbon sources (pyruvate vs. n-hexadecane) and whether or not dispersant (Corexit EC9500A) was added, or that contained crude oil in the form of a water-accommodated fraction (WAF) or chemically-enhanced WAF (CEWAF). We characterized the proteins associated with alkane metabolism and alginate biosynthesis in strain TT1, report on its potential for aromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation and present a proposed metabolism of Corexit components as carbon substrates for the strain. Our findings implicate Corexit in affecting hydrocarbon metabolism, chemotactic motility, biofilm formation, and inducing solvent tolerance mechanisms like efflux pumps in strain TT1. This study provides novel insights into dispersant impacts on microbial hydrocarbon degraders that should be taken into consideration for future oil spill response actions.
Project description:This project addresses the question of impact of oil spills on lung health. Specifically the project will address the general hypothesis, which is upon oil/dispersant respiratory exposure there will be a higher carcinogenic potential of lung tissue.
Project description:Escherichia coli strain MG1655 was grown in a Zn-depleted custom-built chemostat. Culture volume (120 ml), temperature (37 oC) and stirring speed (440 rpm) were maintained. Steady state values for pH and OD600 were 6.9 and 0.6, respectively. Chemostats were grown for 50 h to allow five culture volumes to pass through the vessel and allow an apparent (pseudo-)steady state to be reached. At this point, ZnSO4.7H2O in water was added to a final concentration of 0.2 M in the chemostat. A 10 ml sample of culture was taken using a polypropylene pipette tip immediately prior to Zn addition and 2.5, 7, 10 and 30 min after addition. Samples were harvested into RNAprotect and total RNA was purified using Qiagen’s RNeasy Mini kit (using the supplier’s protocol) prior to use in microarray analysis. A control experiment was also carried out in which water was added. Biological experiments were carried out twice (i.e. control (water added) and experiment (ZnSO4 added) chemostats were grown separately twice), and a dye swap performed for each experiment, providing at least two technical repeats for each of the two biological repeats at all five time points. Slides were analysed so that time points “with Zn” were compared to the same time point “without Zn” (e.g. 30 min after Zn was added was compared to 30 min after water being added).
Project description:Soybean plants were subjected to a multifactorial stress combination of up to five different stresses (water deficit, salinity, low phosphate, acidity, and cadmium), in an increasing level of complexity. All stresses were applied at the beginning of the experiment except for water deficit stress that was imposed after 21 days. Leaves and flowers were collected from 5-7 different plants under the mentioned stress conditions and after 10 days of starting water deficit conditions. Differential gene expression compared to control was studied using RNAseq method for all the possible stress combinations.
Project description:Strophostyles helvola is a close relative to common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and inhabits both coastal and non-coastal regions in North America. However, the mechanism of saline adaptation in S. helvola remains unclear. A transcriptome profiling would facilitate dissecting the underlying molecular mechanisms in salinity-adapted S. helvola. In this study, we reported the RNAseq analyses of two genotypes (a salt-tolerant beach genotype and a salt-sensitive inland genotype) of S. helvola stressed with salt. S. helvola plants were grown in pots and treated with half lethal-guided dose of NaCl solution for 3h, 24h, and 7d. The plants supplied with the same amount of water were used as controls. The whole roots sampled from the three time points were equally pooled as one biological replicate, and three replicates were used for library construction and transcriptome sequencing on Illumina Hiseq 2500. The comparative analyses of root transcriptomes presented here provides a valuable resource for discovery of genes and networks involved in salt tolerance in S. helvola.