KS-LSAMP Student Studies Interference Competition Among Biovar 1 Agrobacteria

Natalie Melendez-Velador
Presenting at the 2019 KS-LSAMP
 Research Immersion: Pathways to STEM Poster Session

     Animals and plants have always been of interest to Natalie Melendez-Velador, and being good in science helped to solidify her pursuit of a biology focus in her Bridges Program at Seward County Community College. This summer, Natalie participated in the 2019 Pathways to STEM: Kansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (KS-LSAMP) program and was sponsored by the Kansas NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award OIA-1656006: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas (MAPS). KS-LSAMP is funded by the National Science Foundation and "promotes recruitment and retention programs throughout Kansas in support of increasing the success of underrepresented minority students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The summer portion of KS-LSAMP is called Research Immersion: Pathways to STEM (RiPS) and is an 8-week summer research program that "aims to introduce students to the process of research and assist in their academic and professional success."

Dr. Thomas Platt and Natalie Melendez-Velador
with members of the Platt Lab Team

   Natalie worked with Dr. Thomas Platt, Synthesis Team Leader for the MAPS project and Assistant Professor of Biology at Kansas State University. She also worked with Ashlee Herken, a graduate student with the Platt Lab.  She titled her project, Interference Competition Among Biovar 1 Agrobacteria from Helianthus annuus Roots. According to Natalie, her summer research was very similar to the research she was already doing in her Bridges program. She specified the summer "research focused on methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and multi-drug resistant bacteria.” Natalie explained her project as follows: “In this study, we aimed to determine whether a sample of biovar 1 agrobacteria produce bacteriocins inhibiting the growth of several pathogenic strains, including strains with whom they co-occur. This work has the potential to lead to the discovery of noval biocontrol agents for crown gall disease. Root samples of common sunflowers, Helianthus annuus, were collected from Konza Prairie. Isolates were grown on semi-selective media that supports the growth of biovar 1 agrobacteria but excludes the growth of most fungi and bacteria present in the microbial communities on plant roots. We used an inhibition assay to determine if agrobacterial isolates produce bacteriocins interfering with the growth of Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains C58, 15955, and K203. Each of these strains is pathogenic with C58 containing a nopaline-type Ti plasmid, 15955 containing an octopine-type Ti plasmid, and K203 being isolated from the same plant as some of the isolates being tested. Experiments are ongoing but preliminary results indicate that several of the environmental isolates inhibit the growth of C58 but not 15955 or K203. This strain-specific inhibition is consistent with prior work with pathogenic agrobacteria, however, we see no evidence for bacteriocin mediated interference competition among co-occurring strains. Future work will aim to determine the mechanisms mediating strain-specific C58 inhibition, including the possibility that inhibition depends on Ti plasmid encoded functions.” And she added, "the research focused on methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and multi-drug resistant bacteria."
    The best part of the summer RiPS KS-LSAMP experience for Natalie was “getting to meet a wide variety of people who each have unique skill sets and experiences.” From this summer experience, Natalie added she “learned new scientific techniques, as well as, how to communicate with team members and diverse audiences about my research.” Natalie presented her research poster at the 2019 LSAMP Poster Session held at Kansas State University on July 24, 2019.
    Natalie is originally from Liberal, KS.  This fall, she will be a sophomore at Seward County Community College pursuing an Associate Degree in Biology. As for her future plans, she said “After getting my associate's degree, I plan to transfer to Kansas State University in the fall of 2020 and major in Biology. I also plan on continuing my research next summer with Dr. Platt.”

Workforce Development, Education and Outreach funding for the KS-LSAMP is provided by the Kansas NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award OIA-1656006 titled: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas. The grant's workforce development and educational objectives are designed to enhance STEM education in Kansas by supporting activities that will lead to an expanded STEM workforce or prepare a new generation for STEM careers in the areas of aquatic, plant and soil microbiome environments and ecological systems.

University of Kansas Distinguished Professor and MAPS Co-PI receive an NSF EPSCoR Track-2 FEC Award

Dr. A. Townsend Peterson and Dr. Folashade Agusto
University of Kansas 

     Dr. A. Townsend Peterson, University of Kansas (KU) Distinguished Professor with the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, along with Co-Principal Investigators Xiangming Xiao (University of Oklahoma), Folashade Agusto, Assistant Professor of EEB at KU, Sean Laverty (University of Central Oklahoma), and Susan Little (Oklahoma State) were awarded an NSF EPSCoR Track-2 FEC Award. Dr. Folashade Agusto is part of the Synthesis team of the Kansas NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award OIA-1656006: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas (MAPS) project. The title of this Track-2 FEC project is Marshalling Diverse Big Data Streams to Understand Risk of Tick-Borne Diseases in the Great Plains. Peterson's team received  $1,964,628 with an official start date of August 1, 2019. The research team "will use ecological niche modeling and mathematical population modeling approaches to assess and predict transmission of the major tick-borne pathogens, and create and test the automated identification tools. The project will foster what can be termed 'big data literacy' via a series of workshops and courses, as well as online data resources."

MAPS Student Wins Best Undergraduate Presentation at Society for Freshwater Scientists Conference

Abagael Pruitt presenting at
the Great Plains Limnology Conference

     Abagael Pruitt was always interested in studying water. However, after taking Biology 661: Ecology of Rivers and Lakes her sophomore year with Dr. Jim Thorpe, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas (KU) and Senior Scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey, she knew she really wanted to study water ecology. With this in mind, Abagael visited with Dr. Amy Burgin, the KU Aquatic Research Team Lead for the Kansas NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award OIA-1656006 titled: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas (MAPS); an Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies; and an Associate Scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey, and decided to join the Burgin Lab. Abagael said she started a project with the lab team last August "to get a feel for lake-work, as I had previously only worked on streams." She added that she really enjoyed working on the lake project and "wanted to continue to do this type of research.”
     In October and November of 2018, Abagael presented her research findings during poster sessions at the 2018 Great Plains Limnology Conference and then at the 2018 Governor's Water Conference. The title of her poster was Spatial Variation of Organic Phosphorus Degrading Extracellular Enzymes in Milford Lake. This research led to the KU Environmental Studies Program awarding her the Ruben Zadiagan Scholarship to continue her research on Milford Lake. In conjunction with this scholarship, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Kansas Department of Health & Environment (KDHE) and collaborations with Emma Overstreet, Kynser Wahwahsuck, Dr. Burgin, and other members of the Burgin/Loecke lab, Abagael was able to continue her research. This additional research opportunity resulted in a presentation during the Environmental Studies Colloquium last May that she titled Spatial Variation in Water and Sediment Phosphorus chemistry in Milford Lake. Shortly after the colloquium, she developed another poster supported by the MAPS project that she co-authored with Janaye Hanschu, Emma Overstreet,  Dr. Terrance Loecke, Dr. Lydia Zeglin, Samantha Thomas, and Dr. Burgin titled Variation in Stream Chemistry Across the Kansas Precipitation Gradient. She presented this poster at the annual Society for Freshwater Scientists Conference, and she won the  Best Undergraduate Presentation award.

Abagael out in the field
On the left - Abagael pulling up the Eckman dredge, which is filled with sediment
On the right - Abagael taking sediment core for phosphatase activity

     Abagael explained her research projects as follows: “We wanted to understand how phosphorus is cycling in the lake, and how that relates to the harmful algal blooms that occur there almost every year. We asked: How do phosphorus and phosphatase activity vary spatially in Milford Lake? Are there differences between top and bottom waters? Are there differences between peak bloom (August) and post-bloom (October)? To answer, we took sediment and water samples from 30 sites around the lake, including sites from each of the three USGS-determined zones. We analyzed the water samples for Soluble Reactive Phosphorus concentrations, and the sediment samples were used to determine phosphate activity which would show how much phosphorus is being released back into the water column due to extracellular enzymes. We hypothesized that zone C would have the highest SRP concentrations, as well as the largest amount of extracellular enzyme activity in August, as that is where the harmful algal blooms generally occur. We found that Zone C did have the highest SRP concentrations in both surface and bottom waters in August. In October, Zone C still had the highest concentrations, but all zones were relatively similar with lower concentrations of SRP than in August. Phosphatase activity was much higher in August, with the highest amount of activity in zone A. We think this is because zone A is a lot deeper than zone C, resulting in greater sedimentation in that area. The shallow water in zone C allows for more mixing, causing less phosphatase activity. October phosphatase activity was significantly lower than in August, with all three zones similar in activity levels. In the future, we plan to look at the available forms of phosphorus in the sediment to better understand the differences in phosphatase activity across the lake."
     As for the MAPS research that won her the Best Undergraduate Presentation Award at the Society for Freshwater Scientists Conference, Abagael described it as follows: "We wanted to understand how stream chemistry changes across Kansas. So, we looked at changes in stream chemistry due to changes in land-use, precipitation, and stream order. This was only the first year of the project and there was a drought last summer, so the results are still preliminary. However, we found that stream order was the most consistent factor for explaining variation in stream chemistry across the state."
     A native of Ottawa Kansas, Abagael is a senior in the KU Honors Program working towards a B.S. in Environmental Studies with a minor in Economics. In addition to working in Dr. Burgin’s lab, Abagael is a trombone section rank leader in the Marching Jayhawks (band) and a member of the KU Men's Basketball Band. She also visits with incoming students to introduce and promote the KU Honors Program as an Honors Ambassador. And last year, she volunteered with Dr. Peggy Schultz’s MAPS outreach Kansas Ecology for Elementary Students (KEES) initiative and taught ecology and environmental science to 3rd-graders. She plans to volunteer for the KEES program again this fall. As for Abagael’s future plans, she said, “I have one more year of working in Dr. Amy Burgin's lab at KU. After that, I plan to go to graduate school to continue doing research, and one day, I'd like to work in academia.”

Workforce Development, Education and Outreach funding for undergraduate student research is provided by the Kansas NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award OIA-1656006 titled: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas. The grant's workforce development and educational objectives are designed to enhance STEM education in Kansas by supporting activities that will lead to an expanded STEM workforce or prepare a new generation for STEM careers in the areas of aquatic, plant and soil microbiome environments and ecological systems.