Water Quality & Microbial Diversity in Lake Pleasant, PA: Physical, Chemical and Nutrient analyses in a Local, Glacial Lake

Abstract:

Eukaryotic organisms contain mitochondria, organelles which generate ATP through aerobic respiration. These mitochondria likely developed from free-living bacteria which were endocytosed by a eukaryote and then lived within it (i.e. endosymbiotic theory). However, not all eukaryotes live in environments rich in the oxygen necessary for aerobic respiration, yet they must still generate ATP in order to carry out their metabolic functions. Recently, a bacterium which uses nitrate rather than oxygen as the final electron acceptor in its ETC, was found living symbiotically within an anaerobic ciliate in a lake in Switzerland.  Perhaps such an organism could be found in our local Lake Pleasant (Union City, PA). We collected water samples at various depths in September 2021, when the lake was stratified.  Oxygen was available (> 2 mg/L) down to 6 meters, suggesting that anaerobic bacteria may be present near the bottom of the lake.  Water samples were filtered through 0.2 µm filters to collect bacteria. We will then sequence the eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes on the filters to determine the overall microbial signature at each depth.  Microbial data can be compared to water quality data that was collected during sampling.  In doing so, we might find hints of nitrate-utilizing endosymbionts reminiscent of Swiss lake systems.