Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on the planet, and is found in nearly every ecosystem. Cellulose is also the most abundant waste product produced by human activity. These enormous stores of natural cellulose and cellulose-containing wastes are a potential renewable energy source. The hydrolysis of cellulose is referred to as cellulolysis and is carried out by cellulase enzymes, which are members of certain glycoside hydrolase families. For most of its history, the microbiology of organisms like those that hydrolyze cellulose was based solely on the testing of physiological and biochemical behaviour of isolated organisms in pure cultures. Despite having gained an important foundation of knowledge in the characterization of microorganisms, cultivation-based techniques introduce major bias into understanding the role that specific microorganisms play because the majority of microorganisms are not readily cultured. Two of the most powerful culture-independent approaches for accessing microbial communities are DNA stable-isotope probing (DNA-SIP) and metagenomics. Though each methodology has been used on its own, it is a combination of these two approaches that has enormous potential to generate results for industrial applications and to help characterize biogeochemical cycling. This thesis presents the first research combining DNA-SIP and metagenomics using cellulose, and the first to target glycoside hydrolase genes from Arctic tundra. For this research, two-month DNA-SIP incubations were carried out with 200 mg of 13C-labelled cellulose as a substrate. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) provided evidence indicating the successful enrichment of microorganisms able to metabolize cellulose. Multiple displacement amplification (MDA) was applied to both the bulk-soil samples and DNA-SIP samples. Following MDA, all DNA samples were subjected to Illumina sequencing, including DNA from a cellulose-degrading enrichment. Functional annotation for each Illumina library was done using the SwissProt database within MG-RAST. The DNA-SIP enrichment resulted in a ~3 fold increase in the relative abundance of glycoside hydrolases and cellulase enzymes in relation to bulk soil samples. A cellulose degrading enrichment contained the highest relative abundance of glycoside hydrolases and cellulase enzymes, with a five fold increase relative to the DNA-SIP enrichment. The enrichment culture had a much lower relative diversity, which was measured using the Shannon Index. An unrooted neighbor-joining tree constructed using Bray-Curtis similarity coefficients for each sample demonstrated that as a result of a considerably higher proportion of cellulase gene sequences and a lower diversity the enrichment culture was the most distinct library, with the DNA-SIP library most closely related to it. DGGE provided initial evidence that MDA introduced bias into the amplification of DNA from the DNA-SIP sample. This was confirmed following sequencing and annotation as the proportion of glycoside hydrolase enzymes sequences decreased 67% following MDA of DNA-SIP enriched DNA and the mean G+ C content of libraries decreased. This research provides evidence indicating that DNA-SIP enrichment prior to the construction of metagenomic libraries increases the abundance of targeted gene sequences, which should enable greater access to functional genes of active microorganisms for potential industrial applications.

This study was conducted to investigate the biofilm formation by using advanced microscopic and high-throughput sequencing techniques. The major tasks were (1) to quantitatively evaluate the initial bacterial attachment processes by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM); (2) to characterize the chemical variation during biofilm formation by Raman microscopy; (3) to analyze the microbial structure and functions in the wastewater and drinking water biofilms by metagenomic analysis. To determine the lateral detachment force for bacteria, a quantitative method using contact mode of AFM was developed. The established method had good repeatability and sensitivity to various bacteria and substrata, and was applied to evaluate the roles of bacterial surface polymers in Phase I and II attachment, i.e. lipopolysaccharides, type 1 fimbria and capsular colanic acid. The results indicated lipopolysaccharides largely enhanced Phases I and II attachment. Fimbriae increased Phase I attachment but not significantly influence the adhesion strength in Phase II. Moreover, colanic acid had negative effect on attachment in both of Phases I and II. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering was applied to evaluate the chemical components in the biofilm matrix at different growth phases, including initial attached bacteria, colonies and mature biofilm. Three model bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas putida, and Bacillus subtilis, were used to cultivate biofilms. The results showed that the content of carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids in biofilm matrix increased significantly along with the biofilm growth of three bacteria judging from the intensities and appearance probabilities of related marker peaks in the spectra. The content of lipids, however, only increased in the Gram-negative biofilms. Moreover, metagenomic data, coupled with PCR-based 454 pyrosequencing reads, were generated for activated sludge and biofilm from a full-scale hybrid reactor to study the microbial taxonomic and functional differences/connections between activated sludge and biofilm. The results showed that the dominant bacteria co-existed in two samples. Global functions in activated sludge and biofilm metagenomes showed quite similar pattern, revealing the limited differences of overall functions existed in two samples. For nitrogen removal, the diversity and abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in biofilm did not surpass that in activated sludge. Whilst, higher abundances of nitrification and denitrification genes were indeed found in biofilm, suggesting the increased nitrogen removal by applying biofilm might be attributed to removal efficiency rather than biomass accumulation of nitrogen removal bacteria. To investigate the bacterial structure and functions of drinking water biofilm, PCR-based 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene and Illumina metagenomic data were generated and analyzed. Significant differences of bacterial diversity and taxonomic structure were found between biofilms formed on stainless steel and plastics. Moreover, ecological succession could be obviously observed during biofilm formation. The metabolic network analysis for drinking water biofilm constructed for the first time. Moreover, the occurrence and abundance of specific genes involving in the bacterial pathway of glutathione metabolism and production/degradation of extracellular polymeric substances were also evaluated. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The introduction of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has dramatically changed the field of virology, with many significant discoveries of novel circular replication-associated protein (Rep) encoding single-stranded (CRESS) DNA viruses. Traditionally, most research into CRESS DNA viruses has often focused on investigating plant and animal pathogens that are of significant economic importance. This research has led to the discovery and establishment of three different CRESS DNA families including Geminiviridae, Nanoviridae and Circoviridae, which infect eukaryotes. CRESS DNA viruses can have single or multicomponent genomes, with the latter requiring all components for infection. CRESS DNA viruses have circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genomes with at least one protein encoding a Rep which is responsible for viral replication. It has been shown that CRESS DNA viruses are able to evolve rapidly with nucleotide substitution rates that are similar to those observed in RNA viruses. The Rep gene has conserved regions known as motifs which are often used to determine relatedness between CRESS DNA virus. NGS has expanded our knowledge on the diversity of novel CRESS DNA viruses. Viral genomes are now routinely recovered from different sample types without any prior knowledge of the viral sequence. This has led to the development of the field of viral ecology. This field places an emphasis on viruses being one of the most abundant organisms on earth, and are therefore likely to play a major role in ecosystems. Environmental metagenomic studies have isolated CRESS DNA viruses from sea water, freshwater, faecal matter from various animals, soil, the atmosphere, sediments and sewage; dramatically increasing the known CRESS DNA viral genomes in the public domain. These studies are shedding light on the distribution of CRESS DNA viruses, as well as providing baseline data for future studies to examine virus-host interactions, community structure and ultimately viral evolution. Vector enable metagenomics (VEM) is another novel approach utilising NGS techniques for discovering CRESS DNA viruses. As many plant-infecting CRESS DNA viruses such as geminiviruses and nanoviruses are vectored by insects, this approach exploits this mechanism by using insect vectors as a surveillance tool to monitor and survey these viruses circulating in ecosystems. Recent studies have used these methods to identify known viral plant pathogens as well as novel viruses circulating in insect vectors such as whiteflies and other higher order insects such a mosquitoes and dragonflies. These approaches successfully demonstrated that VEM can be used as a unique method, with the first mastrevirus discovered in the new world being recovered from dragonfly species Erythrodiplax fusca using this approach. The research in this thesis uses metagenomics to survey CRESS DNA viral diversity in different organisms and environments. Two hundred and sixty eight novel CRESS DNA viruses were recovered and verified in this study from a range of sample types (adult Odonata, Odonata larvae, Mollusca, benthic sediment, water, Oligochaeta and Chironomidae) collected in the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. All viral genomes isolated had two major proteins encoding for a putative Rep and coat protein (CP), with major Rep motifs identified in most Reps. Phylogenetic analysis of the Reps encoded by the viral genomes highlighted that most were extremely diverse falling outside of the previously described ssDNA viral families. A top-down approach was implemented to recover CRESS DNA viruses and possible viral pathogens from Odonata and their larvae. Thirty six viral genomes were recovered from terrestrial adult dragonflies as well as the twenty four from aquatic larvae. Dragonfly cycloviruses were isolated from the some adult Odonata species which were closely related to the isolates previously described by Rosario et al. (2012). The viruses isolated in the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems differed substantially indicating that different CRESS DNA viromes exist in both land and water. The diversity of CRESS DNA viruses in seven different mollusc species (Amphibola crenata, Austrolvenus stutchburyi, Paphies subtriangulata, Musculium novazelandiae, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, Physella acuta and Echyridella menziesi) from Lake Sarah and the Avon-Heathcote estuary both in New Zealand, were also investigated. One hundred and forty nine novel viral genomes were recovered. Two CRESS DNA genomes were recovered from molluscs which have Rep-like sequences most closely related to those found in some bacterial genomes. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum hypovirulence-associated DNA virus 1 (SsHADV-1) was originally isolated from fungal species Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in china and was later found in benthic sediments in New Zealand. As part of this study, SsHADV-1 was recovered from dragonflies (Erythemis simplicicollis, Ischnura ramburii and Pantala hymenaea) collected in Arizona and Oklahoma, USA suggesting a larger distribution of these viruses and not surprising given the near global distribution of S. sclerotiorum. Dragonfly larvae-associated circular DNA viruses (DflaCVs) that were originally isolated in Odonata larvae samples from three New Zealand lakes were later recovered from water, benthic sediment, worms and molluscs from one of the lakes initially sampled, suggesting that these viruses are ubiquitous in freshwater environments. This study has attempted to generate baseline data of CRESS DNA viruses in certain environments using NGS-informed approaches. This data was used to try and establish whether viral distribution in different samples types can potentially be explained by the food web interactions between different samples types. Although the analysis did not show any significant relationships between sample type interactions and viral distribution a few common associations between Odonata larvae and benthic sediment were evident. This was expected as the larvae live within the sediment so it could be assumed that they potentially have similar CRESS DNA viral distribution. Although the distribution of viruses varied across sample types, molluscs proved the best sampling tool for isolating largest numbers of CRESS DNA viruses in an ecosystem with extensive diversity. Overall, this research demonstrates the applications of NGS for investigating the diversity of CRESS DNA viruses. It demonstrates that some sample types such as Odonata in terrestrial systems and molluscs in aquatic environments, can be used as effective sampling tool to determine the diversity of CRESS DNA viruses in different environments as well as detecting previously isolated viruses. The CRESS DNA viruses isolated in this body of work provides baseline data that can potentially be used in future research to investigate hosts of these viruses and their interactions with hosts and potential flow in their environments.

Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on the planet, and is found in nearly every ecosystem. Cellulose is also the most abundant waste product produced by human activity. These enormous stores of natural cellulose and cellulose-containing wastes are a potential renewable energy source. The hydrolysis of cellulose is referred to as cellulolysis and is carried out by cellulase enzymes, which are members of certain glycoside hydrolase families. For most of its history, the microbiology of organisms like those that hydrolyze cellulose was based solely on the testing of physiological and biochemical behaviour of isolated organisms in pure cultures. Despite having gained an important foundation of knowledge in the characterization of microorganisms, cultivation-based techniques introduce major bias into understanding the role that specific microorganisms play because the majority of microorganisms are not readily cultured. Two of the most powerful culture-independent approaches for accessing microbial communities are DNA stable-isotope probing (DNA-SIP) and metagenomics. Though each methodology has been used on its own, it is a combination of these two approaches that has enormous potential to generate results for industrial applications and to help characterize biogeochemical cycling. This thesis presents the first research combining DNA-SIP and metagenomics using cellulose, and the first to target glycoside hydrolase genes from Arctic tundra. For this research, two-month DNA-SIP incubations were carried out with 200 mg of 13C-labelled cellulose as a substrate. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) provided evidence indicating the successful enrichment of microorganisms able to metabolize cellulose. Multiple displacement amplification (MDA) was applied to both the bulk-soil samples and DNA-SIP samples. Following MDA, all DNA samples were subjected to Illumina sequencing, including DNA from a cellulose-degrading enrichment. Functional annotation for each Illumina library was done using the SwissProt database within MG-RAST. The DNA-SIP enrichment resulted in a ~3 fold increase in the relative abundance of glycoside hydrolases and cellulase enzymes in relation to bulk soil samples. A cellulose degrading enrichment contained the highest relative abundance of glycoside hydrolases and cellulase enzymes, with a five fold increase relative to the DNA-SIP enrichment. The enrichment culture had a much lower relative diversity, which was measured using the Shannon Index. An unrooted neighbor-joining tree constructed using Bray-Curtis similarity coefficients for each sample demonstrated that as a result of a considerably higher proportion of cellulase gene sequences and a lower diversity the enrichment culture was the most distinct library, with the DNA-SIP library most closely related to it. DGGE provided initial evidence that MDA introduced bias into the amplification of DNA from the DNA-SIP sample. This was confirmed following sequencing and annotation as the proportion of glycoside hydrolase enzymes sequences decreased 67% following MDA of DNA-SIP enriched DNA and the mean G+ C content of libraries decreased. This research provides evidence indicating that DNA-SIP enrichment prior to the construction of metagenomic libraries increases the abundance of targeted gene sequences, which should enable greater access to functional genes of active microorganisms for potential industrial applications.

Arsenic in aquifers poisons more than 100 million people in Asia alone, as aquifers remain the primary source of water for drinking and farming. Previous studies have suggested a link between the mobilisation of arsenic in aquifers and biochemical processes. As a result of the complex interaction of microbes with arsenic bearing minerals, the relatively immobile arsenate [As(V)] is reduced to labile and more soluble arsenite [As(III)] in aquifers, resulting in elevated concentrations of the metalloid. The numerous microbial communities capable of multiple-metabolic activities colonising these arsenic impacted aquifers mean that the exact mechanism of arsenic mobilisation in aquifers remains poorly understood. To resolve this ambiguity, this study undertakes a combination of metaomic, geochemical, and statistical analyses of 75 aqueous and sediment samples (three sample sets) from 3 transects with arsenic impacted aquifers in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Key geochemical and physical properties including arsenic speciation, iron speciation, mineral and elemental compositions, pH and Eh were recorded using the state-of-the art techniques of XANES, XRF, ICP-MS and other in situ techniques. Next generation sequencing (NGS) platforms such as MiSeq, HiSeq, Nextseq and Pyrosequencing, were used to sequence and analyse DNA and RNA extracted from field samples, allowing characterisation the extent bacterial communities, including any arsenic related genes and transcripts found in these arsenic impacted aquifers. The biogeochemical findings suggest that direct As redox transformations are central to arsenic fate and transport, and that there is a residual reactive pool of both As(V) and Fe(III) in deeper sediments that could be released by microbial respiration in response to hydrologic perturbation, such as increased groundwater pumping that introduces reactive organic carbon to depth. The main findings of this molecular investigation are (i) the most abundant bacterial species belonging to the families of Comamonadaceae, Moraxellaceae, Rhodocyclaceae, Gallionellaceae etc, not known for dissimilatory arsenic reduction, might possess arrA genes and thus have the potential to mobilise arsenic through dissimilatory arsenate reduction; (ii) the bacterial community structure revealed through 16S rRNA gene based sequencing and analysis, resembles the family level community structure revealed through the WGS based community analysis; (iii) although arsenic resistant genes are found in many organisms, they are transcribed only in a few organisms; (iv) the application of O2-PLS analyses may be useful for not only identifying novel organisms associated with key biogeochemical process, but also has clear potential to predict the physical/chemical environment in situ associated with microbial samples via community profiling. In conclusion, the results obtained from this study help establish the identity of microorganisms potentially playing a role in arsenic mobilisation in aquifers, and help decipher the underpinning mechanisms. This deeper level of understanding will in turn help to better target measures that can be applied to arsenic mitigation.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-20T17:09:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-02-12. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-08-20T17:26:39Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000837967_20170212.pdf: 232550 bytes, checksum: a1094395aeb571a1e335ad7f2c585852 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2017-02-17T11:23:26Z: 000837967_20170212.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-02-17T11:24:29Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000837967.pdf: 3734694 bytes, checksum: 58e85e2f06e28ba5f8c69ee9e98eefee (MD5) / O clone metagenômico B5pl37 (inserto de 23 Kb) foi obtido por meio de uma prospecção por PCR para o conjunto gênico de Policetídeos Sintases tipo II (PKSII) em uma biblioteca cosmidial de amostra de solo de bosque de eucaliptos (S.E.). As PKSII são responsáveis pela produção de inúmeras moléculas bioativas, dentre os quais se destacam os antibióticos policetídicos. Parte da sequência do inserto (cobertura de 27-43%) apresentou similaridade de 77-78% com bactérias da família Streptomycetaceae (ferramenta BlastN, Genbank). Além da PKS II, a anotação gênica permitiu identificar genes relacionados à degradação de compostos lignocelulósicos importantes para a produção de combustíveis de segunda geração (2G): uma β- glicosidase, uma celulase e uma Multicopper oxidase (MCO). Considerando a importância industrial destes genes, este trabalho teve como objetivo a caracterização in silico e in vitro/vivo dos mesmos. As análises in silico auxiliaram a identificar a arquitetura do sítio ativo (modelo de estrutura proteica obtida por homologia) e famílias enzimáticas (com base em agrupamentos fenéticos com sequências de enzimas de atividade conhecida). Quanto às análises in vitro/vivo, foram realizados experimentos de expressão em vetor pET28a em Escherichia coli para as enzimas celulase (linhagens de E.coli BL21; C41 e Artics) e β-glicosidase (E.coli BL21), enquanto o gene MCO foi submetido à síntese in vitro para um estudo posterior. Foi feita a caracterização cinética da β-glicosidase (melhor rendimento na expressão e purificação), que obteve os parâmetros catalíticos: Vmax de 0,79 μM/min; km de 0,46 mM.. Os respectivos valores de temperatura e pH ótimos para a enzima foram 37°C e pH7-7,5; e a enzima foi capaz de manter uma atividade acima de 80% para uma faixa de pH 6,5-8,0 e temperatura 35- 40°C. Com relação à PKSII, foram iniciados os processos preparatórios para a... / The Clone metagenomic B5pl37 (insert of 23kb length) was obtained by a PCR prospect for gene set Polyketide Synthases type II (PKSII) in a library cosmidial eucalyptus grove soil sample (SE). The PKSII are responsible for producing many bioactive molecules, among which the antibiotics were noticeable. Part of the sequence of the insert (27-43% coverage) showed similarity of 77-78% with bacteria Streptomycetaceae family (BLASTN tool, Genbank). In PKS II gene annotation was possible to identify genes related to the degradation of lignocellulosic important compounds for the production of second generation biofuel (2G): A β-glucosidase, a cellulose and a Multicopper oxidase (MCO). Considering the industrial importance of these genes, this study aimed to characterize in silico and in vitro /in vivo thereof. The in silico analyzes helped identify the architecture of the active site (protein structure obtained by homology) and enzyme families (based on phenetic groups with sequences of known enzyme activity). The in vitro / vivo experiments were performed in pET28a expression vector in Escherichia coli for cellulase (E. coli strains BL21; Artics and C41) and β-glucosidase (E. coli BL21), while the gene MCO in vitro synthesis for a subsequent study it was submitted. We had done the kinetic characterization of β- glucosidase (best performance in the expression and purification), which obtained the catalytic parameters: Vmax 0.79 uM / min; km from 0.46 mM. The respective temperature and the pH optimum for the enzyme was 37 ° C and pH7-7,5; and the enzyme was able to maintain an activity above 80% at a pH of 6.5-8.0 and temperature range 35-40 ° C. With respect to PKSII, the preparatory processes have been started to insert the expression in the same host specialized for expression of Streptomyces coelicolor antibiotic M1152 (courtesy of Juan P. Gomez-Escribano, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK). Cosmidial exchange vector was carried out ...

To our knowledge, this metagenomics study is the first of its kind to determine how cover crops and tillage management practices affect the soil microbiome in southern Illinois. Seven different cover crops were used over the course of two years from 2014 to 2015, and two different forms of tillage were used: Conventional Tillage (CT) and No-Tillage (NT). Four barcodes were used to generate libraries for the phylogenetic identification of fungi, bacteria, oomycetes, and fusaria: the ITS1, EF1a (Elongation Factor 1-a), and the V4 region of the 16s rRNA subunit. Targeted amplicon sequencing using 250 base pair Paired End (PE) reads yielded 14 x 106 base pair reads in total. Using these amplicons, we successfully unveiled the fungal and bacterial constituents of the studied field plots (database limitations considered) using the QIIME and NCBI Blast protocols. Specifically, this study had three goals 1) to determine if cover crops or tillage had a significant impact on the overall microbial diversity found in bulk soil samples taken from cover crop plots; 2) to determine if the incidence and abundance of individual bacterial or fungal taxa were affected by the cover crop or tillage treatment; 3) perform a bioinformatics methodology comparison for fungal identification using the ITS1 region between Qiime, and MEGAN protocols. Our results indicate many instances of cover crop or tillage interacting with one or more groupings of taxa. Significant whole community differences could be detected to the species (P=0.0335) and family (P=0.0001) taxonomic ranks of fungi using with the three most abundant families based on assigned reads being Mortierellaceae, Trichocomaceae, and Botryosphaeriaceae. Significant whole community interactions between tillage types and year at the level of phylum were observed between bacteria and archaea. Three main phyla constituting bacterial reads were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria. The primary driver in individual differences in bacterial populations appeared to be the year in which samples were taken either 2014 or 2015 (P=0.0001). This was attributed in part due to drastic fluctuations in weather from November 2014 to November 2015. Whole community differences and shifts could be observed based on cover crop down to the species level using both QIIME and NCBI BLAST protocols. The different dispersions and taxa found between cover crops imply that there is a relationship between certain organisms and the type of plant matter present. Tillage type, year, and cover crop were all found to have some degree of clustering based on reads taken from the four amplicons used. For comparison between NCBI and QIIME methodologies using the ITS1 region, the NCBI BLAST protocol provided the most overlap between taxa at the Order and Class taxonomic rankings. An upwards of 70% complementarity of taxa was found comparing the results after using the NCBI or the QIIME protocols. Whole community analysis using PERMANOVA revealed complementarity shifts based on treatment types when comparing both QIIME and NCBI protocols for taxonomic assignments visualized using PCoA plots. This comparison between the two methods for fungal community analysis using the ITS region, highlights the significant discrepancies as well as the complementarity of the two methodologies when analyzing fungal microbiomes.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-07T19:21:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-08-05. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2016-03-07T19:25:25Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000857837.pdf: 711884 bytes, checksum: c40009896f0753484b5a333e5ddc9b46 (MD5) / Desde a expansão da indústria, a partir da revolução industrial, a população mundial tem crescido de forma exponencial. Este aumento populacional aliado aos avanços tecnológicos constantes alavancou o consumo mundial de energia. Este cenário tem incentivado países do mundo todo a buscar alternativas para aumentar a produção de energia. Uma das alternativas adotadas são os biocombustíveis, onde o etanol tem lugar de destaque. Para tanto, a degradação de biomassa vegetal, para a liberação dos açúcares estruturais da fibra vegetal para fermentação, tem se intensificado. O etanol é o principal biocombustível brasileiro e o uso de biomassa vegetal é uma alternativa para o aumento de sua produção. No entanto, a ação enzimática ineficiente na degradação de polissacarídeos estruturais impede a produção industrial. Uma solução é a prospecção de enzimas degradantes de biomassa e um ambiente para esta busca pode ser o rúmen. O qual é um ambiente rico em micro-organismos que degradam a lignocelulose. Considerando que cerca de 99% dos micro-organismos não são passíveis ao cultivo tradicional, a fim de romper com estas limitações foi usada a abordagem metagenômica neste estudo para caracterização de genes com potencial para degradar biomassa e também para avaliação da diversidade taxonômica do ambiente ruminal bovino. Foram coletadas amostras de rúmen de um gado Nelore para a obtenção de DNA, que posteriormente foi sequenciado pelo sequenciador HiScan SQ (Illumina). Foram obtidas 65 milhões de sequências, cada uma com 100 pb, que foram analisadas no servidor MG-RAST. Para montar o perfil taxonômico deste metagenoma foram usados três bancos de dados na análise das sequências: Ribossomal database Project (RDP), que encontrou 18 filos na amostra; Greengenes, que encontrou 16 filos; e SILVA Small SubUnit (SSU) onde foram encontrados 22 filos. Dentre todos os filos encontrados o Firmicutes foi o... / Since the expansion of industry through the Industrial Revolution, the world population has increased unprecedented. This rise together the constant technological advances leveraged the world's energy consumption. This scenario has encouraged countries around the world to seek alternatives to higher energy production, being the biofuels one of the adopted alternatives, which ethanol has excelled. Therefore, the plant biomass degradation for the release of structural sugars from plant fiber fermentation has intensified. Ethanol is the main Brazilian biofuel and the use of plant biomass is an alternative for increasing its production. However, inefficient enzymatic action in the degradation of structural polysaccharides prevents industrial production. One solution is the prospect of biomass degrading enzymes and an environment for this search may be the rumen, which is an environment rich in microorganisms that degrade lignocellulose. Whereas about 99% of the microorganisms are not amenable to traditional growth, in order to break these limitations was used a metagenomics approach in this study to characterize genes with potential to degrade biomass and to evaluate the taxonomic diversity of bovine rumen environment. Rumen samples were collected from Nelore cattle for obtaining total DNA, which was subsequently sequenced by SQ HiScan (Illumina) sequencer. Sixtyfive million sequences were obtained, each with a 100 bp, which were analyzed by MG-RAST server. In order to mount the taxonomic profile of this metagenomic we used three databases on the analysis of sequences: Ribosomal Database Project (RDP), which found 18 phyla in the sample; GreenGenes, which found 16 phyla; and SILVA Small subunit (SSU) which found 22 phyla. Among all the phyla, Firmicutes was the most abundant, followed by Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria by the three databases. For the functional analysis were used five databases for prospecting glycoside Hydrolases ...

Orientador: Eliana Gertrudes de Macedo Lemos / Banca: Janete Aparecida Desidério / Banca: Tiago Santana Balbuena / Banca: André Ricardo de Lima Damásio / Banca: Igor Polikarpov / Resumo: O clone metagenômico B5pl37 (inserto de 23 Kb) foi obtido por meio de uma prospecção por PCR para o conjunto gênico de "Policetídeos Sintases tipo II" (PKSII) em uma biblioteca cosmidial de amostra de solo de bosque de eucaliptos (S.E.). As PKSII são responsáveis pela produção de inúmeras moléculas bioativas, dentre os quais se destacam os antibióticos policetídicos. Parte da sequência do inserto (cobertura de 27-43%) apresentou similaridade de 77-78% com bactérias da família Streptomycetaceae (ferramenta BlastN, Genbank). Além da PKS II, a anotação gênica permitiu identificar genes relacionados à degradação de compostos lignocelulósicos importantes para a produção de combustíveis de segunda geração (2G): uma β- glicosidase, uma celulase e uma "Multicopper oxidase" (MCO). Considerando a importância industrial destes genes, este trabalho teve como objetivo a caracterização in silico e in vitro/vivo dos mesmos. As análises in silico auxiliaram a identificar a arquitetura do sítio ativo (modelo de estrutura proteica obtida por homologia) e famílias enzimáticas (com base em agrupamentos fenéticos com sequências de enzimas de atividade conhecida). Quanto às análises in vitro/vivo, foram realizados experimentos de expressão em vetor pET28a em Escherichia coli para as enzimas celulase (linhagens de E.coli BL21; C41 e Artics) e β-glicosidase (E.coli BL21), enquanto o gene MCO foi submetido à síntese in vitro para um estudo posterior. Foi feita a caracterização cinética da β-glicosidase (melhor rendimento na expressão e purificação), que obteve os parâmetros catalíticos: Vmax de 0,79 μM/min; km de 0,46 mM.. Os respectivos valores de temperatura e pH ótimos para a enzima foram 37°C e pH7-7,5; e a enzima foi capaz de manter uma atividade acima de 80% para uma faixa de pH 6,5-8,0 e temperatura 35- 40°C. Com relação à PKSII, foram iniciados os processos preparatórios para a... / Abstract: The Clone metagenomic B5pl37 (insert of 23kb length) was obtained by a PCR prospect for gene set "Polyketide Synthases type II" (PKSII) in a library cosmidial eucalyptus grove soil sample (SE). The PKSII are responsible for producing many bioactive molecules, among which the antibiotics were noticeable. Part of the sequence of the insert (27-43% coverage) showed similarity of 77-78% with bacteria Streptomycetaceae family (BLASTN tool, Genbank). In PKS II gene annotation was possible to identify genes related to the degradation of lignocellulosic important compounds for the production of second generation biofuel (2G): A β-glucosidase, a cellulose and a Multicopper oxidase (MCO). Considering the industrial importance of these genes, this study aimed to characterize in silico and in vitro /in vivo thereof. The in silico analyzes helped identify the architecture of the active site (protein structure obtained by homology) and enzyme families (based on phenetic groups with sequences of known enzyme activity). The in vitro / vivo experiments were performed in pET28a expression vector in Escherichia coli for cellulase (E. coli strains BL21; Artics and C41) and β-glucosidase (E. coli BL21), while the gene MCO in vitro synthesis for a subsequent study it was submitted. We had done the kinetic characterization of β- glucosidase (best performance in the expression and purification), which obtained the catalytic parameters: Vmax 0.79 uM / min; km from 0.46 mM. The respective temperature and the pH optimum for the enzyme was 37 ° C and pH7-7,5; and the enzyme was able to maintain an activity above 80% at a pH of 6.5-8.0 and temperature range 35-40 ° C. With respect to PKSII, the preparatory processes have been started to insert the expression in the same host specialized for expression of Streptomyces coelicolor antibiotic M1152 (courtesy of Juan P. Gomez-Escribano, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK). Cosmidial exchange vector was carried out ... / Doutor

As compostagens abrigam uma grande riqueza microbiológica, englobando populações com distintos requerimentos e tolerâncias fisiológicas que se sucedem ao longo do processo de biodegradação aeróbica da matéria orgânica e que resultam na elevação espontânea de temperatura até 80° C. Com a utilização de abordagens de metagenômica e metatranscritômica, investigamos a composição e a diversidade taxonômica, bem como as funções metabólicas de comunidades microbianas da compostagem termofílica do Parque Zoológico de São Paulo. Foram analisadas amostras em série temporal de duas composteiras (ZC3 e ZC4), as quais exibiram temperaturas entre 50ºC-75ºC ao longo de 99 dias do processo. Verificamos que a degradação de toda a biomassa foi realizada essencialmente por bactérias, e que a estrutura e composição das comunidades microbianas variam ao longo do processo, com elevada abundância relativa das Ordens Clostridiales, Bacillales e Actinomycetales, assim como observado em outros sistemas de compostagem. Entre os organismos abundantes no processo, identificamos unidades taxonômicas operacionais (OTUs) referentes a organismos não-cultiváveis e/ou com genoma ainda desconhecido. O genoma parcial de uma destas OTUs foi reconstruído, a qual provavelmente pertence a um novo gênero da ordem Bacillales. A dinâmica do processo de compostagem foi evidenciada pela variação do número de OTUs e do índice de diversidade filogenética ao longo do tempo, sendo que o início do processo e a fase após a revira apresentaram a maior diversidade. Os resultados indicam que o processo de revira (aeração da massa de composto) impacta fortemente a estrutura e a composição da microbiota e que a desconstrução da biomassa vegetal ocorre de forma sinérgica e sequencial. A variedade de microrganismos e de funções metabólicas ativas na compostagem termofílica reforça o seu potencial de ser uma promissora fonte de bactérias e enzimas termorresistentes úteis em processos industriais. / Composting harbors considerable microbial richness, comprising populations with distinct physiological requirements and tolerances that succeed one another throughout the aerobic biodegradation of the organic matter, resulting in spontaneous temperature rise up to 80° C. Using metagenomic- and metatranscritomic-based approaches, we investigated the composition and taxonomic diversity as well as metabolic functions of microbial communities of a thermophilic composting operation in the São Paulo Zoo Park. We have analyzed time-series samples from two composting cells (ZC3 and ZC4) which exhibited sustained thermophilic profile (50°C-75°C) over 99 days of the process. We found that all biomass degradation was essentially performed by bacteria. The structure and composition of microbial communities vary throughout the process with a high relative abundance of Clostridiales, Bacillales and Actinomycetales, as observed in other composting systems. Among the organisms abundant in the process, we identify Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) of uncultivated organisms or with unknown genomes. The partial genome of one of these OTUs was obtained and shown to belong probably to a new genus of Bacillales. Our time-series data showed that the number of OTUs and phylogenetic diversity index changed during composting revealing the dynamics of the process, with the beginning and the stage after turning procedure presenting the highest diverse microbiota. These results indicate that the turning procedure (compost aeration) strongly impacts the microbiota structure and composition and that the deconstruction of the biomass occurs synergistically and sequentially. The huge diversity of microorganisms and metabolic functions active in thermophilic composting strengthen its potential as a promising source of new bacteria and thermostable enzymes that may be helpful in industrial processes.