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Identifying The Genetic Basis Of Microbial Iodate Respiration In Marine Biology Lab Report

Decent Essays

Identifying the Genetic Basis of Microbial Iodate Respiration in Marine Environments Dissimilatory (respiratory) metabolisms provide microbes with energy from the reduction of inorganic oxyanions (e.g., NO3-, ClO3-) via the electron transport chain1. Iodate (IO3-) is an example of a thermodynamically stable oxyanion with oxidizing and bioenergetic properties comparable to those of oxygen. Iodate serves as an alternative terminal electron acceptor in the biotic dissimilatory iodate reduction (DIR) to iodide (I-), a process which plays a significant role in marine iodine cycling2,3,4. DIR remains poorly characterized, especially since initial research suggested that iodate reduction only occurs abiotically via photolysis or nitrate …show more content…

I will align the genomes of PST-1 and two related Pseudomonas species, P. chloritidismutans and P. stutzeri (all > 98.8% genetic identity5) and identify which loci are unique to PST-1. I will transform these loci into either the nitrate reducing P. stutzeri or chloritidismutans. For unique regions in PST-1 stretching across several kilobases, I plan to use large cloning vectors such as cosmids. I hypothesize that PST-1 will tolerate higher concentrations of iodate compared to the other Pseudomonas, and upon expressing the PST-1 DIR gene(s) in P. stutzeri or, P. chloritidismutans, I expect increased resistance to iodate along with the iodate reduction phenotype. I will ensure that the transformants are showing increased tolerance to iodate by measuring the conversion of IO3- to I- with ion chromatography7
Aim 2: Identify PST-1 Genes Involved in DIR I propose a forward genetics approach to identify the primary, auxiliary, and regulatory genes involved in iodate reduction. Sequencing and annotation will provide a reference genome for a random barcode transposon mutagenesis with next-generation sequencing (RB-TnSeq) experiment. This method, used previously in P. stutzeri to assess growth defects under different growth conditions8, uses unique bar-coded transposons to identify disrupted genomic loci (see figure below). Mutants will grow together under control conditions, be transferred

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