Characterizing and Evaluating the Diverse Microbial Communities and Their Mercury Resistance Potential from Hot Spring Sites Representing Gradients in Temperature and pH in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is home to many different hot springs, lakes, geysers, pools, and basins that range in pH, chemical composition, and temperature. These different environmental variations provide a broad range of conditions that select and grow diverse communities of microorganisms. In this study, we collected samples from geochemically diverse lakes and springs to characterize the microbial communities present through 16S rRNA metagenomic analysis. This information was then used to observe how various microorganisms survive in high mercury environments. The results show the presence of microorganisms that have been studied in previous literature. The results also depict gradients of microorganisms including thermophilic bacteria and archaea that exist in these extreme environments. In addition, beta diversity analyses of the sequence data showed site clustering based primarily on temperature instead of pH or sample site, suggesting that while pH, temperature, and sample site were all shown to be significant, temperature is the strongest factor driving microorganism community development. While it is important to characterize the microorganism community present, it is also important to understand how this community functions as a result of its selection. Along with looking at community composition, genomic material was tested to see if it contained mercury methylating (hgcA) or mercury reducing (merA) genes. Out of 22 samples, three of them were observed to have merA genes, while no samples had hgcA genes. These results indicate that microorganisms in Mustard and Nymph Springs may use mercury reduction. Understanding how microorganisms survive in environments with high concentrations of toxic pollutants is crucial because it can be used as a model to better understand mechanisms of resistance and the biogeochemical cycle, as well as for bioremediation and other solutions to anthropogenic problems.

Impact of various surfactant classes on the microorganism community used for WWTP biodegradation treatment

Environmental pollution is an important issue influencing human health and environmental equilibrium. The range of pollutants is very wide due to industrialization and population growth and the surfactants are one of the most common organic pollutants due to their extensive use and ubiquitous presence from industry to households. Their massive presence in the domestic and industrial wastewater could affect the Wastewater treatment plants by inhibiting the activated sludge used in pollutants biodegradation treatment step. This paper aimed to study the inhibition effect of three classes of surfactants (nonionic, anionic, and cationic) by measuring the respiratory activity of microorganisms with the application of the Oxygen Uptake Rate (OUR) test. This study established that the surfactants could activate or inhibit microorganisms’ activity, depending on surfactant concentration.

Effect of Photosynthetic Microorganism on Lime Plant Growing and Fruiting

Lime plant has an absolute requirement of nutrients for growing. The microbial application can facilitate in addressing limited access to chemical fertilizer concern. Moreover, the photosynthetic microorganism community can contribute together in nutrient availability for plant growing and fruiting. The objectives of this research were analyzed the growth rate of photosynthetic microorganism in a fermented juice within three months. A fermented juice was analyzed in terms of MLSS, COD, and nutrient. The efficiencies of fermented juice of lime plant growing, and fruiting was also investigated. The lime plant growth rate was collected in terms of plant height, and fruiting. The experimental results showed that the concentration of microbes in a fermented juice was maintained approximately 1,063 ± 135 mg/L on average (n=5). The photosynthetic microorganism concentration and nutrients concentration in fermented juice was a significant promotion of productivity of lime plant growing and fruiting.

Microbiology of AD

Anaerobic digestion is performed by a wide variety of microorganisms in an anaerobic environment. In order to understand the microbial diversity, high-performance sequencing of 16S rRNA can offer high-resolution diversity data. Moreover, to understand the dynamics of the microorganisms, further analysis of the culture-independent systems through meta-omic techniques can be achieved to understand the function and structure of the microorganism community. This chapter will provide the main molecular methods for determining community diversity and dynamics.

The hemolymph of Biomphalaria snail vectors of schistosomiasis supports a diverse microbiome

SUMMARYThe microbiome – the microorganism community that is found on or within an organism’s body – is increasingly recognized to shape many aspects of its host biology and is a key determinant of health and disease. Microbiomes modulate the capacity of insect disease vectors (mosquitos, tsetse flies, sandflies) to transmit parasites and disease. We investigate the diversity and abundance of microorganisms within the hemolymph (i.e. blood) of Biomphalaria snails, the intermediate host for Schistosoma mansoni, using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the bacterial 16S V4 rDNA. We sampled hemolymph from 5 snails from 6 different laboratory populations of B. glabrata and one population of B. alexandrina. We observed 279.84 ± 0.79 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) per snail. There were significant differences in microbiome composition at the level of individual snails, snail populations and species. Snail microbiomes were dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes while water microbiomes from snail tank were dominated by Actinobacteria. We investigated the absolute bacterial load using qPCR: hemolymph samples contained 2,784 ± 339 bacteria per μL. We speculate that the microbiome may represent a critical, but unexplored intermediary in the snail-schistosome interaction as hemolymph is in very close contact to the parasite at each step of its development.