Emily Davenport

Program: Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Current advisor: Sebla B. Kutluay, PhD

Undergraduate university: Bowling Green State University, 2014

Enrollment year: 2018

Research summary
Gene discovery of unique metabolisms in purple phototrophic bacteria

Purple non-sulfur bacteria harbor diverse metabolic systems within their genomes, allowing plasticity and survival in transient environments. Phototrophic extracellular electron uptake (pEEU) is one such metabolism in which microbes acquire electrons from inorganic, often insoluble, electron donors in the extracellular environment into the cell to produce biomass. These extracellular electron donors can include poised electrodes (photoelectrotrophy) or Fe(II) species (photoferrotrophy). pEEU is increasingly observed throughout bacterial lineages directly in growth under poised electrodes in laboratory settings or predicted through genome mining for specific metabolisms and molecular markers (homologs of known pEEU genes). These metabolisms have unknown influences on bacterial community interactions and geochemical cycles and are of ecopyhsiological importance. These metabolisms under a poised electrode have potential for biosynthesis of fuels and plastics. By enriching for purple non sulfur bacteria from diverse environment sediments, we can test ability to perform pEEU, especially under an electrode, and use genome, transcriptome, and proteome level analysis to identify molecular mechanisms involved in these metabolisms.

Graduate publications