Project description:Time series metasecretomes (weeks 1, 3, 5 and ten) of lignocellulose responsive microbiomes enriching on Spartina anglica biomass for 16 weeks in a natural UK salt marsh (Welwick, Humber estuary).
Project description:Salt marshes provide many key ecosystem services that have tremendous ecological and economic value. One critical service is the removal of fixed nitrogen from coastal waters, which limits the negative effects of eutrophication resulting from increased nutrient supply. Nutrient enrichment of salt marsh sediments results in higher rates of nitrogen cycling and, commonly, a concurrent increase in the flux of nitrous oxide, an important greenhouse gas. Little is known, however, regarding controls on the microbial communities that contribute to nitrous oxide fluxes in marsh sediments. To address this disconnect, we generated microbial community profiles as well as directly assayed nitrogen cycling genes that encode the enzymes responsible for overall nitrous oxide flux from salt marsh sediments. We hypothesized that communities of microbes responsible for nitrogen transformations will be structured by nitrogen availability. Taxa that respond positively to high nitrogen inputs may be responsible for the elevated rates of nitrogen cycling processes measured in fertilized sediments. Our data show that, with the exception of ammonia-oxidizing archaea, the community composition of organisms responsible for production and consumption of nitrous oxide was altered under nutrient enrichment. These results suggest that elevated rates of nitrous oxide production and consumption are the result of changes in community structure, not simply changes in microbial activity.
Project description:Prior studies of Bangladeshi migrants in the UK revealed that reproductive function is adaptive, responding to different environments during childhood by adjusting the timing of puberty, reproductive lifespan and overall reproductive function. Here we aimed to understand the basis of this plasticity. Our goals were to establish whether epigenetic mechanisms play a role in the plasticity of this adaptive reproductive phenotype. We hypothesized that women growing up in Bangladesh would have distinct DNA methylation signatures compared to those who moved to the UK at a young age or were born to Bangladeshi parents in the UK. Some of these environmentally induced epigenetic differences would be detected in buccal cell DNA and reflect the divergent gene expression responsible for the altered reproductive function. The women of the study who grew up in Bangladesh were relatively affluent, well-nourished and rarely performed manual work, but a significant confounding factor in their early life was the level of disease load presenting a chronic immune challenge