Bacterial diversity in the Susquehanna River and Bucknell Landing

Author:

Emily Stowe

Co-Authors:

Josh Mejia, Abike Beke, Jiawen Zhao, Natalie Moreno

Institution:

Bucknell University

Abstract

The microbiome of the Susquehanna River is largely neglected in the scientific literature. In the last decade my lab has been exploring the metabolic diversity of bacteria in the Susquehanna and other local water systems using traditional microbiological as well as genomic and metagenomic techniques. The identification of a potential nitrogen fixing bacteria in the Susquehanna River led us to look for additional, non-photosynthetic, nitrogen fixing bacteria in the river. Using culture-based techniques we have isolated and begun characterization of 10 putative nitrogen fixing bacteria, three of which have been sequenced. Here we present preliminary analysis of these genomes.