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<p class="MsoNormal">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Biology Department Seminar<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday, February 10, 2022 – 12:00 Noon<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Dr. Fatma Gomaa<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Research Associate, Department Geology and Geophysics, WHOI<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Visiting Research Associate, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Protist Symbiosis and Metabolic Adaptation to Challenging Environments<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Research on protist-bacteria interactions and symbiosis is increasingly relevant as these associations are now known to play important roles in ecosystem and human health. Free-living amoebae are abundant in all environments and are frequent
hosts for bacterial endosymbionts including pathogenic bacteria. Here, we use the testate amoeba
<i>Arcella</i> spp. as model organisms to investigate the diversity and specificity of
<i>Arcella</i>-associated microbial communities using the 16S rRNA amplicon gene sequence. Our results revealed that
<i>Arcella</i> host diverse bacterial communities and that the <i>Arcella</i>-bacteria associations appear to be species-specific and distinct from that of the surrounding media.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The benthic foraminifer <i>Nonionella stella</i> dominates the abundant foraminiferal community inhabiting laminated, oxygen depleted and sometimes sulfidic sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin, comprising up to ~80% of the living assemblage,
with densities sometimes exceeding 200 specimens per cubic cm. Gene expression from field-collected and laboratory-incubated samples, showed that
<i>N. stella</i> expressed denitrification genes regardless of oxygen regime, and anerobic energy metabolism genes. Our results also revealed, a near-complete expression of a diatom’s plastid genome, suggests kleptoplasty, sequestration of functional plastids,
conferring a metabolic advantage despite the host living far below the euphotic zone. Benthic foraminifera, through a unique integration of functions largely unrecognized among “typical” eukaryotes, represent winning micro-eukaryotes in the face of ongoing
oceanic deoxygenation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are many groups of protists known as excellent bioindicators for monitoring ecosystem health. I studied the effect of Arsenic pollution on eukaryotic cell using Ciliate
<i>Tetrahymena thermophila</i> as a model organism in laboratory cultures. Transcriptomic data from cells exposed to different concentration of ASIII showed that Arsenic induced changes in gene expression and identified genes and pathways that play roles in
AS III metabolism, transportation and detoxification. Our results leverage the use of protists as ecological monitoring and bioremediation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Zoom
<a href="https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/94719910746">https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/94719910746</a> Meeting ID: 947 1991 0746 Passcode: NV%a9e<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By dial: Find your local number: <a href="https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/u/abqBZh0tam">
https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/u/abqBZh0tam</a> Passcode: 667420<o:p></o:p></p>
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