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Deep-sea microbiology. extremophiles. molecular ecology. adaptations to extreme environmentsResearch in my laboratory is focused on: i) the diversity. ecology and evolutionary relationships of deep-sea prokaryotes. with an emphasis on deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. and ii) the microbial adaptations to extreme environmental conditions (e.g.. thermophily. psychrophily). More specifically. we work on the isolation and characterization of novel organisms from deep-sea environments. with an emphasis on thermophilic Archaea and Bacteria. and we look at community dynamics along chemical and physical gradients at deep-sea vents and cold seeps. Our experimental strategies include standard approaches in marine microbiology. such as enrichment cultures/isolations. and molecular ecological approaches. such as PCR. library construction and screening. sequencing. DGGE. and FISH. Furthermore. in collaboration with biochemists. we use genetic engineering and biochemical approaches. combined with comparative protein structure modeling. to study the evolutionary adaptive features that allow microorganisms to thrive in the extreme environmental conditions found in the deep-sea (e.g.. extremely high temperature found at deep-sea vents). We believe that the integration of multiple approaches is critical to understand the ecology and evolution of deep-sea microorganisms. Selected PublicationsVoordeckers JW, Do MH, Hügler M, Ko V, Sievert SM, Vetriani C. (2008) Culture dependent and independent analyses of 16S rRNA and ATP citrate lyase genes: a comparison of microbial communities from different black smoker chimneys on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Extremophiles. Jun 5. [Epub ahead of print] Chatziefthimiou AD, Crespo-Medina M, Wang Y, Vetriani C, Barkay T. (2007) The isolation and initial characterization of mercury resistant chemolithotrophic thermophilic bacteria from mercury rich geothermal springs. Extremophiles. 11(3):469-79. Hugler M, Huber H, Molyneaux SJ, Vetriani C, Sievert SM. (2007) Autotrophic CO2 fixation via the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle in different lineages within the phylum Aquificae: evidence for two ways of citrate cleavage. Environ Microbiol. 9(1):81-92. Reed AJ. Lutz RA. Vetriani C. (2006) Vertical distribution and diversity of bacteria and archaea in sulfide and methane-rich cold seep sediments located at the base of the Florida Escarpment. Extremophiles. 10(3):199-211. Voordeckers. J.W.. Starovoytov. V.. and Vetriani. C. (2005) Caminibacter mediatlanticus sp. nov.. a thermophilic. chemolithoautotrophic. nitrate ammonifying bacterium isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 55(Pt 2):773-9 Vetriani. C. Chew. Y.S.. Miller. S.M.. Yagi. J.. Coombs. J.. Lutz. R.A.. and Barkay. T. (2005) Mercury adaptation among bacteria from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71(1):220-6. Vetriani. C.. Speck. M.D.. Ellor. S.V.. Lutz. R.A.. and Starovoytov,V. (2004) Thermovibrio ammoniificans sp. nov.. a thermophilic. chemolithotrophic. nitrate ammonifying bacterium from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Intl. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54:175-181. Vetriani. C.. Tran. H.V.. and Kerkhof. L.J. (2003) Fingerprinting microbial assemblages from the oxic/anoxic chemocline of the Black Sea. Appl. Environm. Microbiol. 69:6381-6488. Koblízek. M.. Béjà. O.. Bidigare. R.R.. Christensen. S.. Benetiz-Nelson. B.. Vetriani. C.. Kolber. M.K.. Falkowski. P.G.. and Kolber. Z.S. (2003) Isolation and characterization of Erythrobacter sp. strains from the upper ocean. Arch. Microbiol. 180:327-338. Kolber. Z.S.. Plumley. F.G.. Lang. A.S.. Beatty. J.T.. Blankenship. R.E.. VanDover. C.L.. Vetriani. C.. Koblizek. M.. Rathgeber. C.. and Falkowski. P.G. (2001) Spatial concordance between anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria and phytoplankton in the open ocean. Science 292:2492-2495. |
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