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http://hdl.handle.net/11375/24595
Title: | Employing metagenomics to capture the dynamics and the diversity of freshwater bacteria and viruses |
Other Titles: | Assessing the diversity of freshwater bacteria and viruses |
Authors: | Mohiuddin, Mohammad |
Advisor: | Schellhorn, Herb |
Department: | Biology |
Publication Date: | 10-Jul-2019 |
Abstract: | Microbial water communities are a complex consortium of bacteria, viruses and protozoa. These complex microbial and viral communities may contain pathogens that cannot be detected by conventional methods. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers the potential to exhaustively characterize all microbial and viral components of a given water sample and facilitates the identification and quantification of pathogens of interest. The goals of this thesis were to assess the dynamics and the diversity of freshwater bacterial and viral communities of the lower Great Lakes region and identify pathogenic bacterial and viral species. We first assessed the diversity of viral communities in six different beaches of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, two of the largest freshwater reservoirs in North America. We employed a robust and routinely applicable approach that can provide a comprehensive analysis of bacterial and viral community composition. Our analysis suggests that the viral communities of the lower Great Lakes region are dominated by bacteriophages but also contained viruses of plants and animals. Exhaustive characterization of bacterial communities indicates that the bacterial community composition is highly diverse, and the diversity differs between recreational waters and beach sands. In addition, we identified sequences of pathogens that are not currently included in traditional water monitoring schemes in both recreational water and beach sand. To investigate the impact of spatiotemporal and environmental factors on the distribution of bacterial species, we employed a computational approach and our analysis suggests that dissolved oxygen (DO) level is strongly associated with bacterial community diversity. Using a computational approach, we have also identified habitat-specific bacterial species and a possible link between inter-connected habitats. The findings of this thesis aid in our understanding of bacterial and viral community diversity in recreational waters and provide useful information to water quality decision makers. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/24595 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Mohiuddin_Mohammad_finalsubmission201907_PhD.pdf | 7.32 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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