Embedded Files
Sections
Experimental Design
Community Design
Experimental Results
α and β Diversity Analysis
Taxonomic Analysis
Conclusions
Experimental Design workflow
Community Design
A 96-well plate was assembled with the following:
22 different bacterial community compositions overall
4 replicate wells for each combination
8 blank control wells
Bacterial Community Design and Workflow
The composition amount of each bacterial member was based on 3x_cutoff dispensions, specifically in 2 drops, 200 drops, or 2000 drops depending on growth rate of individual organisms. For growth, 200 μl of 0.1X R2A media was first pipetted into each well. The drops were dispensed using the novel CellenOne picoliter printer. The plate was then incubated for 6 days at 37℃.
Experimental Results
Bacterial Color Coded Legend
α and β Diversity Analysis
α and β diversity plots allow for the visualization of changes in diversity.
In the β diversity plot we see two distinct clusters on right hand side of the plot indicating that there is a difference between the two groupings.
Using the Pielou Evenness Plot, an αdiversity metric, we can establish that the difference in the two clusters from the β diversity plot is accompanied by a difference in the individual diversity of each communities. More specifically, the upper cluster contains communities which are more diverse in comparison to the communities of the lower cluster.
Bacterial Community Legend
Beta Diversity Plot
Pielou Evennes Plot
Taxonomic Bar Plot Analysis
Taxonomic plots are an additional tool we can use to visualize our results. Each bar in this plot represents a community.
The different colors in each bar represent unique species that live in that community. The larger the area is that they take up of total bar, the more abundant that species is in the community.
The more diverse communities have a wider range of species present as well as more evenly distributed abundances across the community. Communities 5,6, and 21 are the most diverse out of our experimental communities.
Bacterial Community Legend
Key Observations and Conclusions
Observations
Communities 5 and 6 increased significantly in evenness with the addition of Paenibacillus (T) and Arthrobacter (M)
The addition of Lysobacter (A) decreased community evenness except when in the presence of Burkholderia (B)
Low and middle growers saw lower evenness values with a relatively larger standard deviation
Community 5 showed the highest diversity
Communities with few to no high growers (7, 8, and 10) interestingly had lower diversity
Community 9 (middle growers) had the most unique composition of bacteria of the samples
Conclusions
All communities had similar growth by the end of day 6, indicating successful community growth.
Paenibacillus (T) and Arthrobacter (M) increase growth and evenness factors in the communities, making them essential members in promoting communal diversity.
Lysobacter (A) decreases overall community evenness, but when grouped with Burkholderia (B), evenness is restored indicating that Burkholderia (B) neutralizes the negative effect that Lysobacter (A) has on community evenness.
Community 5 had the best overall outcome in terms of community evenness and diversity.
References
“EcoFAB Device and EcoBOT – EcoFAB.” Accessed May 19, 2021. https://eco-fab.org/components/.
Figure 1 and 2 “Created with BioRender.com.” February 5, 2021.
page by Megan Tjuanta & Talon Mahosky
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