Location

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Start Date

3-8-2010 9:00 AM

End Date

3-8-2010 12:00 PM

Description

Psychrophiles are organisms that grow optimally below 20C (1). The US Great Basin is home to many mountain peaks with an abundance of alpine snow environments perfect for psychrophilic habitation. We analyzed samples from three different locations, Wheeler Peak, Pacific Crest Trail, and Mount Conness, characterizing and comparing the psychrophilic communities at varying depth intervals in the snow. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed no notable difference in community structure with depth, but there was a distinct difference when comparing different snow environments (i.e. shaded vs. full sun exposure). The chlorophyll concentration decreased as the depth of the snow increased. By creating a clone library and utilizing DNA sequencing technology we were able to obtain 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequences from samples collected from Mount Conness, which allowed us to identify microbes living in the ecosystem. This information enabled us to produce bacterial and eukaryl phylogenetic trees, giving us a clear look into the diversity of this psychrophilic community. Out of seventy bacterial results there were fifty‐three ‐Proteobacteria, thirteen Sphingobacteria, and only three Actinobacteria, with one unclassified bacteria as well. These results will guide us in our future plans for experimentation.

Keywords

fast

Disciplines

Genetics and Genomics | Life Sciences | Microbiology

Language

English

Comments

Poster research sponsored by Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium


Share

COinS
 
Aug 3rd, 9:00 AM Aug 3rd, 12:00 PM

Evaluating snow microbial assemblages

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Psychrophiles are organisms that grow optimally below 20C (1). The US Great Basin is home to many mountain peaks with an abundance of alpine snow environments perfect for psychrophilic habitation. We analyzed samples from three different locations, Wheeler Peak, Pacific Crest Trail, and Mount Conness, characterizing and comparing the psychrophilic communities at varying depth intervals in the snow. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed no notable difference in community structure with depth, but there was a distinct difference when comparing different snow environments (i.e. shaded vs. full sun exposure). The chlorophyll concentration decreased as the depth of the snow increased. By creating a clone library and utilizing DNA sequencing technology we were able to obtain 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequences from samples collected from Mount Conness, which allowed us to identify microbes living in the ecosystem. This information enabled us to produce bacterial and eukaryl phylogenetic trees, giving us a clear look into the diversity of this psychrophilic community. Out of seventy bacterial results there were fifty‐three ‐Proteobacteria, thirteen Sphingobacteria, and only three Actinobacteria, with one unclassified bacteria as well. These results will guide us in our future plans for experimentation.