Submitted by Michiko Taga on
Microbial communities profoundly influence critical processes ranging from human health, plant health, and even how foods taste. One primary way that microbes interact is by sharing nutrients. In the Taga lab, we focus on the Vitamin B12 family of nutrients, known as corrinoids. Corrinoids are enzyme cofactors used by many bacteria for a variety of biochemical transformations, ranging from amino acid and DNA synthesis to methanogenesis. Importantly, few bacteria that require corrinoids for their growth are able to produce a corrinoid themselves, and must obtain it from their environment. We have, furthermore, found that only some bacteria that produce corrinoids provide corrinoids to other bacteria in the environment, however it remains impossible to predict if a producer is a provider based upon genome sequence alone, because we do not know the genes that influence whether an organism is a corrinoid provider. Therefore, the overall goal of this project is to identify the genetic basis of corrinoid “providing.”
As a member of the Taga lab, you will be part of a project that seeks to identify genes that alter how well a corrinoid provider provides corrinoids to other organisms. Specifically, you will use an agar plate-based assay to identify mutants of the model corrinoid-providing bacterium, Sinorhizobium meliloti, that are no longer able to provide corrinoids to a reporter strain that becomes red in the presence of corrinoid. With mentorship from postdoctoral scholar Zachary Hallberg, you will learn how to grow and use bacterial strains in standard microbiological techniques, gain experience in the scientific method of hypothesis generation, experimental testing, data analysis, and presentations. Your work in this project will contribute to our understanding of how organisms exchange nutrients, which ultimately could lead to better methods to alter natural microbial communities for directed health- or environmental-interventions.
No prior lab experience is necessary for this position. We are looking for students that have a strong enthusiasm for lab research and are prepared to engage intellectually with the project. You should have three or more 3-hour time blocks per week available in your schedule for the entire semester.
Please include a few sentences about yourself in your application (including details such as your hobbies, interests, and passions). We are not interested in your GPA but rather in why lab research is exciting to you, and how you see this experience fitting within your goals.