RAPID: Oil Spills and (evolutionary) Changes in Intestinal Microbiota of Fish

Southern University New Orleans, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

The hypothesis to be tested is that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will, by increasing the presence of oil-associated microbes in the marine environment, induce changes in the normal community of microbes (the microbiome) of fish and other marine organisms. For example, this exposure may result in new symbiotic host-microbe relationships between fish and bacteria. This research project has two aims: (1) To examine the bacteria of the digestive tract of fish from areas exposed to the Gulf oil spill for the presence of oil-associated microbes. A comparison with microbes from fish that have not been exposed to the oil spill will determine if exposure has led to a changed microbial community in oil-exposed fish. (2) To determine if genes related to the metabolic processing of oil (and which occur normally in oil-associated microbes) have been transferred into the normal intestinal bacteria of fish as a consequence of exposure to the Gulf oil spill. Broader Impacts This project will introduce undergraduate students from minorities traditionally underrepresented in science to biological research, and engage them with a project that is relevant to a problem currently facing society. This research project will also be integrated with lectures and laboratory instruction. Students will be recruited to conduct undergraduate research at all levels of the investigation, from field work to molecular biology to web-based bioinformatics. Students will participate in the analysis of results, and the presentation of their work in posters and talks at scientific conferences, as well as in scientific manuscripts. This project will involve collaboration with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. Results will also be made publically available through the office of Satellite Telecommunications Network Interface/Distance Learning at SUNO and the investigator's website www.sunocas.com/tietzel.