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INTERACTIONS OF INTRODUCED BACTERIA AND AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES
Citation:
Leff, L AND L. G. Leff. INTERACTIONS OF INTRODUCED BACTERIA AND AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2000.
Description:
Bacteria enter into stream environments from a variety of sources and interact in varying ways with other biota. There were three basic objectives for this project: 1) to examine the effect of different types of macroinvertebrates on bacterial survival and distribution, 2) to compare different species of bacteria based on their survival and distribution, and 3) to develop a new method for examining bacterial survival using genetically engineered bacteria. The effect of macroinvertebrates on bacterial distributions varied among species of macroinvertebrates. Introduced bacteria were able to colonize the guts and exterior surfaces of most invertebrates and could even be detected in the gut after metamorphosis in two insect species. No evidence for enhanced lateral gene transfer on invertebrates was discovered. Several different bacterial species were compared and many responded in similar manners. Finally, a new method for tracking the survival of bacteria was developed and tested. This method involves the use of genetically engineered bacteria containing the green fluorescent protein gene. The first use of this approach was accomplished using funding from this project and subsequently other researchers have used this method in various other systems. This method was featured in an article in the NIH's Environmental Health Perspectives publication.