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New Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination

Berkeley Lab develops better method of environmental monitoring using the PhyloChip, finds surprising results in Russian River watershed

When the local water management agency closes your favorite beach due to unhealthy water quality, how reliable are the tests they base their decisions on? As it turns out, those tests, as well as the standards behind them, have not been updated in decades. Now scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a highly accurate, DNA-based method to detect and distinguish sources of microbial contamination in water. (more…)

Identical Virus, Host Populations Can Prevail for Centuries, WHOI Researcher Reports

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2011Environmentalgae ecosystems, algal host cells, ancient plankton dna signatures, andrew w mellon foundation, atmosphere, benjamin van mooy, black sea, calcium carbonate shell, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, climate, CO2, coccolithovirus, e huxleyi, ecological significance of viruses, emiliania huxleyi, fresh water, genetic populations of a virus, geological records, global carbon cycle, greenhouse emissions, marco coolen, marine algae, microbial ecologists, microscopic analysis, ocean, photosynthesis, phytoplankton, sediments, viral host dynamics in the ocean, viral pathogens, viruses, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

A Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist, analyzing ancient plankton DNA signatures in sediments of the Black Sea, has found for the first time that the same genetic populations of a virus and its algal host can persist and coexist for centuries. The findings have implications for the ecological significance of viruses in shaping algae ecosystems in the ocean, and perhaps fresh water as well.

“The finding that the DNA of viruses and algal host cells can be preserved in the geological records is of great interest to microbial ecologists,” said Marco Coolen of WHOI’s Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry department and author of the study, which appears in the July 22 issue of Science. “This offers unprecedented insights into long-term algal, viral, and host population dynamics between globally important algae and their viral pathogens in the ocean.” (more…)

Tag Archives: microbial ecologists

New Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination

Identical Virus, Host Populations Can Prevail for Centuries, WHOI Researcher Reports