Faculty Mentor Information
Dr. Anirban Chakraborty (Mentor), Idaho State University
Additional Funding Sources
We acknowledge funding support from Pocatello's Division of Science & Environment.
Abstract
Stream water microbial communities often contain waterborne pathogens and can impact water quality and public health at large. To investigate stream water microbial diversity, 43 water samples were collected across 16 locations along the Portneuf river and its tributaries in Fall of 2022 and in the summer of 2023. Microbial communities were analyzed using high throughput 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing conducted at Idaho State University’s Molecular Research Core Facility. The predominant bacterial phylum across all sampling locations was Proteobacteria constituting more than 25% of the community in each location. Furthermore, the relative abundance of potentially pathogenic genera varied considerably across sampling locations, often representing 0.5 – 13% of the community. Among such genera, the most abundant was Pseudomonas, constituting as much as 5% of a single community. Additionally, alpha and beta diversity analysis of microbial communities was conducted after grouping sampling locations into outer- and inner-city regions. Mean values of the Shannon Index, representing alpha diversity, were 4.5 and 6 for the inner-city and outer-city samples, respectively. The results show that DNA-based microbial diversity surveys constitute a valuable complementary approach to traditional cultivation-dependent methods such as fecal coliform counts for water quality testing.
Stream Water Microbial Communities within the Portneuf Watershed in Pocatello, Idaho
Stream water microbial communities often contain waterborne pathogens and can impact water quality and public health at large. To investigate stream water microbial diversity, 43 water samples were collected across 16 locations along the Portneuf river and its tributaries in Fall of 2022 and in the summer of 2023. Microbial communities were analyzed using high throughput 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing conducted at Idaho State University’s Molecular Research Core Facility. The predominant bacterial phylum across all sampling locations was Proteobacteria constituting more than 25% of the community in each location. Furthermore, the relative abundance of potentially pathogenic genera varied considerably across sampling locations, often representing 0.5 – 13% of the community. Among such genera, the most abundant was Pseudomonas, constituting as much as 5% of a single community. Additionally, alpha and beta diversity analysis of microbial communities was conducted after grouping sampling locations into outer- and inner-city regions. Mean values of the Shannon Index, representing alpha diversity, were 4.5 and 6 for the inner-city and outer-city samples, respectively. The results show that DNA-based microbial diversity surveys constitute a valuable complementary approach to traditional cultivation-dependent methods such as fecal coliform counts for water quality testing.