University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Environmental modulators of algae-bacteria interactions at scale

Gopalakrishnappa, Chandana

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122189

Description

Title
Environmental modulators of algae-bacteria interactions at scale
Author(s)
Gopalakrishnappa, Chandana
Issue Date
2023-08-07
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Kuehn, Seppe
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Golding, Ido
Committee Member(s)
  • Heath, Katy
  • Maslov, Sergei
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Droplet microfluidics
  • High-throughput
  • Microbial ecology
  • Phototroph-heterotroph interactions
  • High dimensional environments
  • Statistical modeling
Abstract
Photosynthetic microbes associated with non-photosynthetic, heterotrophic bacteria play a crucial role in global primary production, nutrient cycling, and industrial processes. Understanding these phototroph-heterotroph associations is therefore important but remains challenging because they reside in chemically complex aquatic and terrestrial environments. We do not understand how the myriad of environmental parameters, from nutrient availability to pH, impact interactions between phototrophs and their heterotrophic partners. Here, we leverage a massively parallel droplet microfluidic platform that enables us to interrogate algae-bacteria interactions in >100,000 communities across ~525 environmental conditions with varying pH, phosphorous availability. carbon availability and carbon source identity. By developing a statistical framework to dissect interactions in this complex dataset, we reveal that the dependence of algae-bacteria interactions on nutrient availability is strongly modulated by pH and buffering capacity. Furthermore, we show that the chemical identity of the available organic carbon source controls how pH, buffering capacity, and nutrient availability modulate algae-bacteria interactions. By leveraging a high-throughput platform, our study reveals the previously underappreciated role of pH in modulating phototroph-heterotroph interactions.
Graduation Semester
2023-12
Type of Resource
Thesis
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2023 Chandana Gopalakrishnappa

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