Biodiversity and Hydrocarbon Degradation Capacity of Marine Fungi

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

I am interested in the biodiversity of marine fungi and in their ability to degrade hydrocarbons. I am more specifically interested in the species of fungi that grow naturally in the Bay of Fundy and its fringing saltmarshes (eastern Canada) and the extent to which they have natural resilience to marine oil spills. My lab is approaching this problem by first characterizing the diversity of marine fungi from the water column and coastal sediments using morphological and molecular methods (DNA barcoding). We will then use selective media with marine fuel oil as sole carbon source to isolate potential hydrocarbon-degrading fungi. These experiments will allow us to assess the mass loss of crude oil, and provide proof of metabolism of hydrocarbons (C14 naphthalene degradation to CO2). They will also help determine which marine fungi possess cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s), which fungi use to degrade hydrocarbons. Approaches for identifying and quantifying P450s from novel fungal isolates and environmental samples will include protein identification via liquid chromatography-orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and quantification via liquid chromatography-selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (LC-SRM). This work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Erin Bertrand (Dalhousie Tier II CRC in Marine Microbial Proteomics).