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2006 Funded Pilot Projects

Anthropogenic impacts and profiling fecal microbial populations at a salt marsh

PI: Mitch Sogin (MBL)

Fecal coliforms are indicator organisms that warn of possible fecal contamination and its potential impact on human health. Coliform surveillance activities generally rely upon cultivation assays or molecular Microbial Source Tracking (MST) technology to assay for the presence of a particular indicator organism in environmental samples. This project will employ a massively parallel DNA tag sequencing strategy to profile entire microbial communities in the Little Sippewissett Salt Marsh and the barrier Woodneck Beach. This study site is surrounded by ~40 homes, most of which are occupied on a seasonal basis and all are serviced by septic systems. The marsh communicates with Buzzards Bay through a tidal inlet. Multiple times each summer high coliform counts indicate dangerous conditions for recreational use. Possible coliform sources include human waste from failed septic systems, bird populations or other animals. The objective is to use the tag sequence data to locate specific sources of fecal contamination and identify suites of genes that could serve as multi-species indicators of human pollution. The experimental strategy takes advantage of rapidly evolving hypervariable regions in ribosomal RNAs and our ability to generate many thousands of short DNA tag sequences using 454 Life Science’s pyrosequencing sequencing technology on a Roche Genome Sequencer 20 System. Samples will be collected throughout the summer of 2007 and tag sequence will be determined form those microbial populations that were harvested on days corresponding to high coliform count measurements provided by the Barnstable Health Department. Because the technique returns quantitative information about most if not all members of a microbial community, these researchers will be able to track the location of contamination and map its distribution through the marsh.

Transcriptional Markers of Life Cycle Transitions in Harmful Algal Blooms

PI: Don Anderson (WHOI )

Bloom dynamics of the red tide dinoflagellate, Alexandrium fundyense are driven in large part by transitions in its life cycle. While these stages are well documented, the biological and oceanographic forces that trigger transitions between the stages are not. A major obstacle to determining the conditions that trigger these transitions is our inability to rapidly identify sexual stage cells. Here, a novel transcriptome experiment will be used to discover molecules that are uniquely expressed by conjugating gamete cells and by germinating cysts. This experiment will utilize sequencing-by-synthesis technology that is newly available through the Bay Paul Center. Data from the experiment will be analyzed in a fashion that is directly analogous to SAGE. Results will be used to leverage a larger, multi-year proposal to verify and validate transcriptional markers discovered through the proposed work.

The Economic Effects of Harmful Algal Blooms: A pilot project to estimate the costs of human respiratory ailments associated with aerosolized brevetoxins

PI(s): Porter Hoagland and Di Jin (WHOI); Lora Fleming (Miami)

This study will estimate the costs-of-illness associated with human respiratory ailments that arise as the consequence of the aerosolization and coastal to inland transport of brevetoxins from blooms of the marine dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, in the Gulf of Mexico. The research will develop models to link the occurrence of HAB events in the coastal-ocean with exposures to aerosolized brevetoxins. The researchers will compile datasets and develop models of illness rates that would permit historical estimates of these kinds of impacts and the simulation of future potential impacts. This is a proof-of-concept Pilot Project designed to develop an analytical framework that can be used on a larger scale, using more extensive datasets in the future. It is critical that we understand the costs of natural hazards such as HAB events for at least two reasons. First, the nature of the costs (their effect) and their incidence (who is affected and at what rate) will enable the characterization of feasible actions to mitigate the costs. Second, the scale of the costs will help resource managers, scientists, and the general public to gauge the levels of and need for potential mitigation.

The Economics of Human Health Risks from Pathogens and Toxins in the Marine Environment

PI(s): Hauke Kite-Powell and Porter Hoagland (WHOI)

These researchers will produce an “order of magnitude” estimate of the annual human health cost imposed on residents of the United States by exposure to pathogens and toxins from the marine environment. The estimate will be derived from a review and synthesis of information in the existing literature on (1) the spatial and temporal prevalence of marine pathogens, (2) the pathways by which they affect humans and the potentially exposed populations, (3) the human health effects of exposure, and (4) the economic cost of resulting medical conditions. The estimate will inform future research on pathogens in the marine environment, allowing scholars and public officials to target pathogens and settings where improved scientific understanding is most likely to produce significant economic benefits, and setting the stage for focused economic analyses. (co-funded with the WHOI Marine Policy Center)