Sarah H. Stellick | Search USGS

USGS2012

Cultured fungal associates from the deep-sea coral Lophelia pertusa

The cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa provides important habitat to many deep-sea fishes and invertebrates. Studies of the microbial taxa associated with L. pertusa thus far have focused on bacteria, neglecting the microeukaryotic members. This is the first study to culture fungi from living L. pertusa and to investigate carbon source utilization by the fungal associates. Twenty-seven fungal isolates from seven families, including both filamentous and yeast morphotypes, were cultured from healthy L. pertusa colonies collected from the northern Gulf of Mexico, the West Florida Slope, and the western Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. Isolates from different sites were phylogenetically closely related, indicating these genera are widely distributed in association with L. pertusa. Biolog™ Filamentous Fungi microtiter plates were employed to determine the functional capacity of a subset of isolates to grow on varied carbon sources. While four of the isolates exhibited no growth on any provided carbon source, the rest ( n =10) grew on 8.3–66.7% of carbon sources available. Carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and amino acids were the most commonly metabolized carbon sources, with overlap between the carbon sources used and amino acids found in L. pertusa mucus. This study represents the first attempt to characterize a microeukaryotic group associated with L. pertusa. However, the functional role of fungi within the coral holobiont remains unclear.

Florida↗

USGS2011

A survey of microbial community diversity in marine sediments impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic shorelines, Texas to Florida

Microbial community genomic DNA was extracted from sediment samples collected along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts from Texas to Florida. Sample sites were identified as being ecologically sensitive and (or) as having high potential of being impacted by Macondo-1 (M-1) well oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The diversity within the microbial communities associated with the collected sediments provides a baseline dataset to which microbial community-diversity data from impacted sites could be compared. To determine the microbial community diversity in the samples, genetic fingerprints were generated and compared. Specific sequences within the community genomic DNA were first amplified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a primer set that provides possible resolution to the species level. A second nested PCR was performed on the primary PCR products using a primer set on which a GC-clamp was attached to one of the primers. The nested PCR products were separated using denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) that resolves the nested PCR products based on sequence dissimilarities (or similarities), forming a genomic fingerprint of the microbial diversity within the respective samples. Samples with similar fingerprints were grouped and compared to oil-fingerprint data from the same sites (Rosenbauer and others, 2011). The microbial community fingerprints were generally grouped into sites that had been shown to contain background concentrations of non-Deepwater Horizon oil. However, these groupings also included sites where no oil signature was detected. This report represents some of the first information on naturally occurring microbial communities in sediment from shorelines along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts from Texas to Florida.

Gulf Of Mexico↗