Characterizing and comparing microbiomes of three Galápagos plant species
Megan Szot
Undergraduate Researcher
Environmental and Sustainability Studies Major (O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs)
Leonie Moyle
Faculty Mentor
Leonie Moyle (College of Arts & Sciences)
Project Description
The Moyle lab researches the genetics and genomics of speciation and adaptation. Adaptation to a given environment can be shaped, in part, by an individual’s microbiome (the diverse community of microbes that live in a shared environment). For example, the above-ground microbiome can protect the host plant against disease and abiotic stress (Laforest-Lapointe & Whitaker 2019, American Journal of Botany). Our research project will explore leaf microbial community assembly across three wild tomato species on the Galápagos Islands, using DNA extracted from samples collected in the archipelago. Specifically, we will (1) generate the first characterization of above-ground microbial diversity in Galápagos tomato and (2) examine correlations between this microbial diversity and host plant ecology and evolution.
Technology or Computational Component
The student will use short read alignment tools to extract microbial DNA sequences from whole genome sequence data on IU’s High Performance Computing Cluster. She will then conduct statistical analyses on sequence data and sample metadata (e.g., host species identity, collection site coordinates), using R. Through this project, the student will learn the basics of command-line computation, shell scripting, and R for statistics and data visualization, while generating a new unique dataset on Galápagos plant microbiomes.