College

Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences

Date of Last Revision

2023-05-06 11:38:14

Major

Geology

Honors Course

3370 497:003

Number of Credits

3

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Fall 2022

Abstract

It is hypothesized that the ocean of Europa, a Jupiter moon, hosts bacteria on its oceanic floor. Understanding how Fe(III) reducing bacteria (FeRB) from AMD utilize organic materials within its surrounding environment outlines how FeRB could thrive and tolerate extreme conditions. FeRB are known to tolerate metals and highly reactive oxidants species (ROS), but in this experiment, H2O2 was the experimental factor to further test FeRB tolerance. H2O2 is a common ROS and is damaging to living material such as proteins, DNA, and RNA. A range of H2O2 concentrations were fed to the FeRB from AMD to measure their tolerance and see if their growth was inhibited. The FeRB was retrieved from the Friedline Mines acid mine drainage (AMD) of the Powdermill Nature Preserve in Pennsylvania. The FeRB were monitored over 0.9 mM, 0.45 mM, 0.23 mM, 0.12 mM, 0.012 mM, and 0.0 mM H2O2 concentrations. The FeRB could not survive within the medium with H2O2, but there were concentrations of H2O2 that tolerated the oxidant more than others. Bacteria could not tolerate 0.9 mM H2O2 but were able to tolerate 0.45 mM and 0.23 mM H2O2 within the anoxic FeRB media. Treatments with H2O2 had 0.46-11.3 ug/mL DNA in the original enrichment, but did not have any measurable DNA in the latest enrichment, after 5 transfers. The samples that had the strong oxidant added did not survive, but different concentrations had a higher tolerance than other H2O2 concentrations.

Research Sponsor

John M Senko

First Reader

Nita Sahai

Second Reader

Melissa Mulford

Honors Faculty Advisor

John A Peck

Proprietary and/or Confidential Information

No

Seth_WHCSignaturePage.pdf (17 kB)
Completed Signature Page

Cover Sheet.pdf (8 kB)
Cover Sheet

Seth_WHC Initial Proposal.pdf (326 kB)
Proposal Sheet

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