Oct 16
Angela Kent
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Using molecular biology to link phytoplankton and aquatic microbial communities
Abstract
Microbial communities regulate the flow of nutrients and energy in freshwater ecosystems, but little is known about the ecological forces that govern microbial community structure and function. Freshwater bacterioplankton and phytoplankton communities have been observed to experience correlated temporal patterns in community structure. A potential explanation is that phytoplankton populations serve as a resource for heterotrophic bacterial communities. The correlated dynamics between the two trophic groups may be indicative of resource-mediated control of bacterioplankton as exudate quality and quantity change during succession of phytoplankton populations. In order to investigate the direct influence of phytoplankton-mediated resources on bacterial community composition, heterotrophic bacterial populations were characterized using a bacterial functional gene involved with oxidation of glycolate, a phytoplankton-specific exudate. Glycolate oxidase D-subunit gene (glcD) sequences were recovered from microbial communities collected from a number of Wisconsin lakes. These sequences were distinct from previously characterized marine glcD sequences, and many were closely related to the glcD sequence of the cosmopolitan freshwater bacterial genus Polynucleobacter. These sequences were used to design a terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism protocol to examine the dynamics of the heterotrophic bacterial community, and to compare these dynamics with phytoplankton community succession. Examining population dynamics of bacteria able to use glycolate will provide insight into the specific influence of phytoplankton on the composition and dynamics of freshwater bacterial communities, and address our hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying synchronous dynamics of freshwater microbial communities.
Bio
Angela Kent is a microbial ecologist who studies microbial community structure and function in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Research in the Kent lab seeks to understand the ecological drivers that govern microbial communities in natural and managed ecosystems. Kent and her students are especially interested in the application of microbial ecology to improve environmental quality and sustainability, animal health, and plant productivity.
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