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Where in the World? Asia
Lake Hövsgöl, Mongolia
Every summer since 2008, a cadre of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, the Academy of Natural Sciences and the National University of Mongolia head out to the Lake Hövsgöl Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Camp staff, project coordinators, undergrads, grad students, post-docs and faculty members are the backbone of this team united through the PIRE Mongolia Project (Partnerships in International Research and Education). Through this project...
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Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India
Subramanya Rao, PhD student at the University of Hong Kong, part of the Extremophiles Research Group run by Dr Steve Pointing, has taken an expedition to the Thar Desert to obtain samples from arid and semi arid regions within Rajasthan, India. The aim of this research is to examine the soil microbial community from arid and semi-arid regions of the desert and to understand ecosystem functioning in desert soil.
"Soil samples were... READ MORE
Nanjing, China
China's booming population, along with that of the rest of the world, demands an equally booming food and resources supply. In this light, Ning Ling, a Ph. D. student from the College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, China, is investigating ... READ MORE
Lake Tai, China
Lake Tai (or as it is known to the local, Taihu) is the third largest lake in China - over 30 million people rely on it as a source of potable water and for various aquaculture, industrial and transportation purposes. Over the last few years though it has been inundated with massive algal bloom dominated by the potentially toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis. READ MORE
Lake Hövsgöl, Mongolia
Every summer since 2008, a cadre of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, the Academy of Natural Sciences and the National University of Mongolia head out to the Lake Hövsgöl Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Camp staff, project coordinators, undergrads, grad students, post-docs and faculty members are the backbone of this team united through the PIRE Mongolia Project (Partnerships in International Research and Education). Through this project, plant ecologists, biogeochemists, soil scientists, climate modelers, and others are empirically documenting the effects of climate and land-use change on this arid ecosystem, which has been grazed for a millennia by the livestock of local nomadic herders. How the microbial ecology of this ecosystem shifts with climate change and how this correlates with shifts in the plant community are some of the central questions under investigation.
This global change study strives to link ecosystem shifts to microbial mechanisms with edaphic, floristic and climatic data. The experimental design is comparable to numerous other climate change studies, allowing for the production of globally relevant data. Presently,16S pyrosequencing data from the soil microbial community is being analyzed and integrated with metadata from this well replicated, multi-factorial experiment, which includes warming, watering, grazing and topography treatments.
Lake Hövsgöl is ideally suited for studying ecological shifts driven by climate change. The average annual temperature at the site has increased by 1.7ºC since 1963, and some of the greatest projected increases in temperature are associated with northern Mongolia. One of the initial hypotheses in this moisture-limited system is that microbial diversity will decrease with warming and increase with watering. In order to unravel the microbial community composition of the system, 16S data will be integrated with spatial and temporal data that includes information on carbon and nitrogen fluxes, changes in plant phenology and shifts in climate.
Since the conveniences of the lab (i.e. running water, electricity, freezer storage) are not available in this remote location, certain logistics require creative solutions. This is where MO BIO’s LifeGuard™ Soil Preservation Solution comes in very handy—this bacteriostatic preservative is used to store soil samples while they are transported from the Mongolian Steppe, through customs, and back to the lab in the United States. Microbial DNA is then extracted using the MO BIO PowerSoil® DNA Isolation Kit, in preparation for Next-Generation Sequencing techniques. In the future, these soils (now saftely stored at -80ºC) will be used for enzyme assays as well as RNA expression studies (using the MO BIO RNA PowerSoil® Total RNA Isolation Kit). We are very grateful for the people and products of MO BIO, which have offered indispensible support throughout this extensive project.
Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India
Subramanya Rao, PhD student at the University of Hong Kong, part of the Extremophiles Research Group run by Dr Steve Pointing, has taken an expedition to the Thar Desert to obtain samples from arid and semi arid regions within Rajasthan, India. The aim of this research is to examine the soil microbial community from arid and semi-arid regions of the desert and to understand ecosystem functioning in desert soil.
"Soil samples were collected in sterile tubes, one groups containing stabilization solution (used to extract RNA) and the other without (used to extract DNA). The soil samples were then transported to the laboratory for further analysis. Immediately cultivable microbes were grown using different culture medias. Desert soil micro-organisms are generally restricted due to environmental stress, lack of water, etc. Still we find desert soil micro-organisms carry out critical ecosystem functioning in terms of biogeochemical cycling. Until recently, studies on Thar Desert soil microbes mostly focused on cultivation alone.
To test the long-assumed notion that cultivation results significantly underestimate the overall microbial diversity in soil, we applied an environmental metagenomic approach. We found the combination of cultivation and DNA and RNA clone library helped us to better estimate total soil microbial diversity. In order to answer our research questions 'Which microbes are the key players in desert soil ecosystems for arid and semi arid regions?' and 'How does the variation in the inorganic compounds in desert soil effect microbial diversity?', we used MO BIO soil extraction kits to extract DNA and RNA respectively. We then constructed DNA and RNA clone libraries to compare the metabolically active and dormant microbial diversity in soil.
Thanks to MO BIO's PowerSoil® DNA Isolation Kit and PowerMax® Soil DNA Isolation Kit, we were able to further understanding of soil-microbial interactions. As the MO BIO ad says, 'No more microbe will be left unsequenced', this is what I experienced. Previously, we used phenol-chloroform methods to extract DNA from complex substrates such as soil, but we faced a lot of problems in PCR due to inhibitors. But MO BIO’s PowerSoil® kit helped us to amplify successfully, saving a lot of time. It also saved us from inhalation of phenol in the lab, feeling much safer in the lab."
Nanjing, China
China's booming population, along with that of the rest of the world, demands an equally booming food and resources supply. In this light, Ning Ling, a Ph. D. student from the College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, China, is investigating a key aspect to our species survival. He is currently working on soil microbial ecology, researching the food crop nemesis, soil-borne watermelon pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. In his studies, Ning Ling isolates DNA from diseased soil infested with Fusarium oxysporum (shown in the above photo, left side), and soil restored with various bio-organic fertilizers (above right). Using molecular biological methods, Ning Ling studies the differences in soil microflora between these soils to optimize crop stability.
Ning Ling states, "Compared to the other ways of DNA extraction from soils, I trust MO BIO’s PowerSoil® DNA Isolation Kit which can isolate DNA from soils in a relatively short time with much higher product and lower humic acid, and that is much better for the further amplification of microbial genes."
Lake Tai, China
Lake Tai (or as it is known to the local, Taihu) is the third largest lake in China - over 30 million people rely on it as a source of potable water and for various aquaculture, industrial and transportation purposes. Over the last few years though it has been inundated with massive algal bloom dominated by the potentially toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis. Dr. Jennifer DeBruyn and Ms Sarah Farnsley accompanied Professor Steven Wilhelm, all from the University of Tennessee, to Taihu in May 2009 to collect samples from the lake in order to begin to develop an understanding of the factors that control the proliferation of these toxic algae.
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Microcystis produces a hepatoxin that causes significant problems for wildlife and husbandry animals and, if consumed, for humans. Indeed reports from Taihu suggest toxin levels reach 1000x the World Health Organization's drinking water limit. |
The UltraClean® Microbial DNA Isolation Kit was Professor Wilhelm and his team's kit of choice: " We chose to use MO BIO products as they appear to give us the best yield of PCR quality DNA from this tough-to-lyse organism."
