Community Profiling of Lander University, Greenwood, South Carolina through Illumina MiSeq Sequencing
Jeilymar Jimenez, Thompson Durham, Justin Leonhardt, Tyler Schneider, Elyse Donaubauer, and Melissa Hayes
University campuses represent a unique built environment with a range of microorganisms due to high human population densities, throughput, and variable building usage (Ross and Neufield 2015). Due to increased human activity and on-campus debris, the soils on Lander University’s campus should contain a highly variable reservoir of microorganisms. Remarkably, after a brief literature review, it was noted that very little research has been published on the diversity and bioactivity of soil microbial communities on college campuses. Soil samples were collected throughout the college campus using convenience sampling and each soil sample was analyzed independently for microbial community analyses. DNA was extracted from 2.5g 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.47.0(Schloss et al. 2009) following the MiSeq SOP (available at https://www.mothur.org/) with modifications. This study has provided an initial characterization of microbial communities collected on the Lander University college campus in Greenwood, South Carolina.
Jeilymar Jimenez is 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.
Thompson Durham is a senior biology major with minors in chemistry and psychology. He plans to attend osteopathic medical school after graduating from Lander.
Justin Leonhardt is 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 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.