Characterization of the bacterial flora of Sorcerer's Cave, the deepest cave in Texas

• In Event: Poster Presentation and Judging for: Anthropology; Botany; Conservation Ecology; Environmental Science; Freshwater Science; Geosciences; Mathematics & Computer Science; Neuroscience; Physics & Eng; Science Education; Terrestrial Ecology & Management.
  In Poster Session: Terrestrial Ecology Poster Session

Abstract

At 558 feet, Sorcerer’s Cave in Terrell county is the deepest cave in Texas. Because great depth is expected to comprise unique and isolated habitats, bacteria samples were collected for identification and characterization. Previous research from portions of this site led to the identification of Pseudomonas as the main genus of the bacteria collected. In this study we selectively sampled other bacterial genera to test for different species from a side wall of Sorcerer’s Cave near Guano Lake. Samples were collected aseptically and inoculated on 15 ml slants of TSA with screw caps. The isolates were kept cold until incubation and incubated at room temperature until growth appeared. We performed PCR of the 16S rRNA gene using the 27f and 1492r primers and obtained 16s DNA sequences. We performed preliminary identification of 16S sequences through comparisons with accessions from Genbank and the Ribosomal Database Project. In addition to the ecological characterization of the microbial flora in Sorcerer’s Cave, this research project is the precursor to further studies of the bacterial isolates, including antibiotic resistance testing.

Authors

• Joshua M. Brokaw, Abilene Christian University

• Hannah Seah, Abilene Christian University

• Samantha N. Studvick, Abilene Christian University

• Diana P. Desai, Abilene Christian University