Maseeh Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

Funding Source

PSU EAGLES: Funded by the National Science Foundation

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

Synechococcus are primary-producing marine picocyanobacteria that play a critical role in global carbon cycling, oxygen production, and aquatic food webs. While these organisms typically exist as single cells, they form micro-colonies in response to environmental stress; however, the mechanisms governing micro-colony formation and their structural durability remain poorly understood. This study evaluated the durability of Synechococcus micro-colonies across two distinct strains (CC9605 and CC9311) under physical disruption methods, specifically vortexing and sonication. Population distributions and micro-colony abundances were quantified using flow cytometry (gated by chlorophyll and phycoerythrin fluorescence levels) and analyzed with FlowJo and RStudio. Contrary to the initial hypothesis that physical stress would break micro-colonies apart, results indicated that physical disruption may actually induce or increase micro-colony frequency. A statistically significant effect was observed in strain CC8311 (Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.075), while strain CC9605 showed no significant variance (p = 0.23), though both exhibited a general trend toward increased micro-colony formation post-treatment. Micro-colonies consistently accounted for less than 1.0% of the overall population. These findings suggest complex phenotypic responses to physical stress with broader implications for microbial food webs and carbon dynamics. Future research will focus on expanding sample sizes across diverse Synechococcus strains and exploring chemical digestion durability and predator-prey dynamics

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45299

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