Illumina Miseq Sequencing Investigation on the Soil Bacterial Community Profiles At Lander University
Thompson Durham, Jeilymar Jimenez, Justin Leonhardt, Tyler Schneider, Elyse Donaubauer, and Melissa Hayes
Lander University’s campus is a unique built environment that serves as a hub of high human and animal activity. Most bioactive microorganisms are found in the first few inches of the soil that also contains pollutants, agricultural products, and fecal matter. After a brief literature review, it has been noted that little research has been published on the bioactivity and diversity of microbial communities on college campuses. Soil samples were collected on campus in areas of high animal, human, and automobile traffic that could potentially contain unique microorganism communities. Each soil sample was analyzed independently for microbial community analysis. DNA was extracted from 2.5 g of soil using Quiagen DNeasy PowerSoil Pro Kit following the standard manufacturer's protocol. Concentrations of extracted DNA were assessed using a Nanodrop spectrophotometer to ensure successful DNA extraction and quantification for sequence library preparation. DNA samples were sent to University of Michigan’s Microbiome Core (Ann Arbor, MI) for library preparation and next generation sequencing. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified for downstream sequencing with the commonly used primers 16Sf-V4 (515f) and 16Sr-V4 (806r) and a previously developed protocol (Caporaso et al. 2012; Kozich et al. 2013). Sequencing was accomplished via a MiSeq high-throughput sequencer (Illumina, San Diego, CA). Acquired DNA sequences were filtered for quality and analyzed using MOTHUR v 1.47.0 (Schloss et al. 2009) following the MiSeq SOP (available at https://www.mothur.org/) with modifications. The results of this study are still in progress and will provide an initial characterization of microbial communities collected on the Lander University college campus in Greenwood, South Carolina.
Thompson Durham is a senior biology major with minors in chemistry and psychology. He plans to attend osteopathic medical school after graduating from Lander.
Jeilymar Jimenez is currently a junior biology major with minors in chemistry and child & family studies. In addition to being a tutor in the Academic Success Center, Jeilymar is also a member of the Environmental Science Student Organization, TriBeta National Biological Honor Society, and the American Chemical Society. She plans to attend an osteopathic medical school after graduating from Lander.
Justin Leonhardt is currently a junior biology major with genetics emphasis and minors in chemistry and psychology. He is a member of the Lander University of Honors College and TriBeta National Biological Honor Society. He plans on going to graduate school after Lander.
Tyler Schneider is a currently is a senior biology major with a minor in chemistry. He is a member of the TriBeta National Biological Honor Society. Tyler plans to attend osteopathic medical school after graduating from Lander.