Analyzing rainforest ciliate diversity in Panama and Ecuador using nascent sequencing technologies and qRT-PCR.

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Communities of animal and plant species in Neotropical forests are known to be hyper-diverse, and species composition can change dramatically among communities because of varying levels of endemism. The aim here is to test if similar patterns of biodiversity and biogeography occur at the microbial level in the same forests. Soil ciliates in Panama and Ecuador will be used as models, and will be examined from multiple aspects using nascent sequencing and amplification technologies. 1) Deep sequencing of RNA over four years will allow for observations of total diversity, as well as any changes over distance and time. 2) Expression levels of RNA will be measured in soil ciliates to evaluate the appropriateness of using the RNA sequences from the Neotropical soils to estimate abundances. 3) Sexlinked genes will be inventoried in the putatively asexual colpodean ciliates to evaluate if their Neptropical soil sequences should be best compared to other sexual microbial and macro-organismic eukaryotic species, or to asexual strains of bacteria and archaea. Together these three aspects to observing soil ciliates and interpreting their sequences will help in establishing a microbial perspective that will broaden our view of the endangered Neotropical forests.