Sherry L. Seston

Bio: Sherry L. Seston is an academic researcher from Alverno College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Shotgun sequencing & Anoxic waters. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 4 publications receiving 552 citations.

How stable is stable? Function versus community composition.

Abstract: The microbial community dynamics of a functionally stable, well-mixed, methanogenic reactor fed with glucose were analyzed over a 605-day period. The reactor maintained constant pH and chemical oxygen demand removal during this period. Thirty-six rrn clones from each of seven sampling events were analyzed by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) for the Bacteria and Archaea domains and by sequence analysis of dominant members of the community. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs), distinguished as unique ARDRA patterns, showed reproducible distribution for three sample replicates. The highest diversity was observed in the Bacteria domain. The 16S ribosomal DNA Bacteria clone library contained 75 OTUs, with the dominant OTU accounting for 13% of the total clones, but just 21 Archaea OTUs were found, and the most prominent OTU represented 50% of the clones from the respective library. Succession in methanogenic populations was observed, and two periods were distinguished: in the first, Methanobacterium formicicum was dominant, and in the second, Methanosarcina mazei and a Methanobacterium bryantii-related organism were dominant. Higher variability in Bacteria populations was detected, and the temporal OTU distribution suggested a chaotic pattern. Although dominant OTUs were constantly replaced from one sampling point to the next, phylogenetic analysis indicated that inferred physiologic changes in the community were not as dramatic as were genetic changes. Seven of eight dominant OTUs during the first period clustered with the spirochete group, although a cyclic pattern of substitution occurred among members within this order. A more flexible community structure characterized the second period, since a sequential replacement of a Eubacterium-related organism by an unrelated deep-branched organism and finally by a Propionibacterium-like species was observed. Metabolic differences among the dominant fermenters detected suggest that changes in carbon and electron flow occurred during the stable performance and indicate that an extremely dynamic community can maintain a stable ecosystem function.

Meta-omic signatures of microbial metal and nitrogen cycling in marine oxygen minimum zones

Abstract: Iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) are essential cofactors for microbial metalloenzymes, but little is known about the metalloenyzme inventory of anaerobic marine microbial communities despite their importance to the nitrogen cycle. We compared dissolved O2, NO3-, NO2-, Fe and Cu concentrations with nucleic acid sequences encoding Fe and Cu-binding proteins in 21 metagenomes and 9 metatranscriptomes from Eastern Tropical North and South Pacific oxygen minimum zones and 7 metagenomes from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Station. Dissolved Fe concentrations increased sharply at upper oxic-anoxic transition zones, with the highest Fe:Cu molar ratio (1.8) occurring at the anoxic core of the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone and matching the predicted maximum ratio based on data from diverse ocean sites. The relative abundance of genes encoding Fe-binding proteins was negatively correlated with O2, driven by significant increases in genes encoding Fe-proteins involved in dissimilatory nitrogen metabolisms under anoxia. Transcripts encoding cytochrome c oxidase, the Fe- and Cu-containing terminal reductase in aerobic respiration, were positively correlated with O2 content. A comparison of the taxonomy of genes encoding Fe- and Cu-binding vs. bulk proteins in OMZs revealed that Planctomycetes represented a higher percentage of Fe genes while Thaumarchaeota represented a higher percentage of Cu genes, particularly at oxyclines. These results are broadly consistent with higher relative abundance of genes encoding Fe-proteins in the genome of a marine planctomycete vs. higher relative abundance of genes encoding Cu-proteins in the genome of a marine thaumarchaeote. These findings highlight the importance of metalloenzymes for microbial processes in oxygen minimum zones and suggest preferential Cu use in oxic habitats with Cu > Fe vs. preferential Fe use in anoxic niches with Fe > Cu.

Metatranscriptional Response of Chemoautotrophic Ifremeria nautilei Endosymbionts to Differing Sulfur Regimes

Abstract: Endosymbioses between animals and chemoautotrophic bacteria are ubiquitous at hydrothermal vents. These environments are distinguished by high physico-chemical variability, yet we know little about how these symbioses respond to environmental fluctuations. We therefore examined how the γ-proteobacterial symbionts of the vent snail Ifremeria nautilei respond to changes in sulfur geochemistry. Via shipboard high-pressure incubations, we subjected snails to 105 µM hydrogen sulfide (LS), 350 µM hydrogen sulfide (HS), 300 µM thiosulfate (TS) and seawater without any added inorganic electron donor (ND). While transcript levels of sulfur oxidation genes were largely consistent across treatments, HS and TS treatments stimulated genes for denitrification, nitrogen assimilation, and CO2 fixation, coincident with previously reported enhanced rates of inorganic carbon incorporation and sulfur oxidation in these treatments. Transcripts for genes mediating oxidative damage were enriched in the ND and LS treatments, potentially due to a reduction in O2 scavenging when electron donors were scarce. Oxidative TCA cycle gene transcripts were also more abundant in ND and LS treatments, suggesting that I. nautilei symbionts may be mixotrophic when inorganic electron donors are limiting. These data reveal the extent to which I. nautilei symbionts respond to changes in sulfur concentration and species, and, interpreted alongside coupled biochemical metabolic rates, identify gene targets whose expression patterns may be predictive of holobiont physiology in environmental samples.

Generation and Analysis of Microbial Metatranscriptomes

Abstract: Analysis of the collective RNA pool from a microbial community - the metatranscriptome - yields valuable information on microbial gene expression patterns and biogeochemical processes in natural environments. Molecular and analytical tools for analyzing metatranscriptomes using high-throughput sequencing have advanced rapidly in recent years and continue to evolve and expand. The technique is increasingly available to individual research projects, even those with a modest budget or lacking an extensive bioinformatics toolkit. A core set of metatranscriptomic practices can now be identified, with key steps including RNA extraction, messenger RNA (mRNA) enrichment, synthesis of complementary DNA (cDNA), shotgun sequencing of cDNA, and bioinformatic analysis of sequence data. This chapter explores key questions that researchers should consider before beginning a metatranscriptomic study and then describes in detail the major steps of a sequencing-based metatranscriptomic analysis, from RNA isolation to functional and taxonomic analysis of sequence data. The questions and methods described here provide an introductory framework for environmental microbiologists interested in using metatranscriptome sequencing to explore microbial community gene expression.

Microbial diversity and soil functions

Abstract: Summary Soil is a complex and dynamic biological system, and still in 2003 it is difficult to determine the composition of microbial communities in soil. We are also limited in the determination of microbially mediated reactions because present assays for determining the overall rate of entire metabolic processes (such as respiration) or specific enzyme activities (such as urease, protease and phosphomonoesterase activity) do not allow any identification of the microbial species directly involved in the measured processes. The central problem posed by the link between microbial diversity and soil function is to understand the relations between genetic diversity and community structure and between community structure and function. A better understanding of the relations between microbial diversity and soil functions requires not only the use of more accurate assays for taxonomically and functionally characterizing DNA and RNA extracted from soil, but also high-resolution techniques with which to detect inactive and active microbial cells in the soil matrix. Soil seems to be characterized by a redundancy of functions; for example, no relationship has been shown to exist between microbial diversity and decomposition of organic matter. Generally, a reduction in any group of species has little effect on overall processes in soil because other microorganisms can take on its function. The determination of the composition of microbial communities in soil is not necessary for a better quantification of nutrient transformations. The holistic approach, based on the division of the systems in pools and the measurement of fluxes linking these pools, is the most efficient. The determination of microbial C, N, P and S contents by fumigation techniques has allowed a better quantification of nutrient dynamics in soil. However, further advances require determining new pools, such as active microbial biomass, also with molecular techniques. Recently investigators have separated 13C- and 12C-DNA, both extracted from soil treated with a 13C source, by density-gradient centrifugation. This technique should allow us to calculate the active microbial C pool by multiplying the ratio between labelled and total DNA by the microbial biomass C content of soil. In addition, the taxonomic and functional characterization of 13C-DNA allows us to understand more precisely the changes in the composition of microbial communities affected by the C-substrate added to soil.

Decoupling function and taxonomy in the global ocean microbiome

Abstract: Microbial metabolism powers biogeochemical cycling in Earth’s ecosystems. The taxonomic composition of microbial communities varies substantially between environments, but the ecological causes of this variation remain largely unknown. We analyzed taxonomic and functional community profiles to determine the factors that shape marine bacterial and archaeal communities across the global ocean. By classifying >30,000 marine microorganisms into metabolic functional groups, we were able to disentangle functional from taxonomic community variation. We find that environmental conditions strongly influence the distribution of functional groups in marine microbial communities by shaping metabolic niches, but only weakly influence taxonomic composition within individual functional groups. Hence, functional structure and composition within functional groups constitute complementary and roughly independent “axes of variation” shaped by markedly different processes.

Biofuel Cells Select for Microbial Consortia That Self-Mediate Electron Transfer

Abstract: Microbial fuel cells hold great promise as a sustainable biotechnological solution to future energy needs. Current efforts to improve the efficiency of such fuel cells are limited by the lack of knowledge about the microbial ecology of these systems. The purposes of this study were (i) to elucidate whether a bacterial community, either suspended or attached to an electrode, can evolve in a microbial fuel cell to bring about higher power output, and (ii) to identify species responsible for the electricity generation. Enrichment by repeated transfer of a bacterial consortium harvested from the anode compartment of a biofuel cell in which glucose was used increased the output from an initial level of 0.6 W m−2 of electrode surface to a maximal level of 4.31 W m−2 (664 mV, 30.9 mA) when plain graphite electrodes were used. This result was obtained with an average loading rate of 1 g of glucose liter−1 day−1 and corresponded to 81% efficiency for electron transfer from glucose to electricity. Cyclic voltammetry indicated that the enhanced microbial consortium had either membrane-bound or excreted redox components that were not initially detected in the community. Dominant species of the enhanced culture were identified by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and culturing. The community consisted mainly of facultative anaerobic bacteria, such as Alcaligenes faecalis and Enterococcus gallinarum, which are capable of hydrogen production. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Pseudomonas species were also isolated. For several isolates, electrochemical activity was mainly due to excreted redox mediators, and one of these mediators, pyocyanin produced by P. aeruginosa, could be characterized. Overall, the enrichment procedure, irrespective of whether only attached or suspended bacteria were examined, selected for organisms capable of mediating the electron transfer either by direct bacterial transfer or by excretion of redox components.

A Guide to the Natural History of Freshwater Lake Bacteria

Abstract: Freshwater bacteria are at the hub of biogeochemical cycles and control water quality in lakes. Despite this, little is known about the identity and ecology of functionally significant lake bacteria. Molecular studies have identified many abundant lake bacteria, but there is a large variation in the taxonomic or phylogenetic breadths among the methods used for this exploration. Because of this, an inconsistent and overlapping naming structure has developed for freshwater bacteria, creating a significant obstacle to identifying coherent ecological traits among these groups. A discourse that unites the field is sorely needed. Here we present a new freshwater lake phylogeny constructed from all published 16S rRNA gene sequences from lake epilimnia and propose a unifying vocabulary to discuss freshwater taxa. With this new vocabulary in place, we review the current information on the ecology, ecophysiology, and distribution of lake bacteria and highlight newly identified phylotypes. In the second part of our review, we conduct meta-analyses on the compiled data, identifying distribution patterns for bacterial phylotypes among biomes and across environmental gradients in lakes. We conclude by emphasizing the role that this review can play in providing a coherent framework for future studies.