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Red Deep Sea Crabs

Undergraduate #85
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Cell and Molecular Biology

Charifa Williams - Hampton University
Co-Author(s): Simone Cruz, Hampton University, Hampton, VA



The red deep sea crab, also known as Chaceon quinquedens are primarily found along the Atlantic slope. Their environment is characterized by a high salinity, pressure, and aphotic zone with little to no seasonal variation in temperature. Red deep sea crabs are commercially fished in Virginia and contribute to local economy. During fishery, they are exposed to surface ocean microbiome. We hypothesize that core gut microbiome is stable and is not influenced by exposure to surface ocean microbiome. To test our hypothesis, a total of 60 red deep sea crabs will be collected along the Atlantic slope. The crabs will be kept in a holding tank, at a constant temperature of 4°C in surface ocean water brought in a ballast tank of the fishing vessel (F/V). The crabs will be sampled at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 and 20 days. Metadata that comprise of temperature, pH, sex, carapace width, chela height, and width will be recorded for each crab. Each crab’s gut will be subjected to microbial DNA isolation followed by PCR for 16S rDNA using V3–V4 primer set. The resulting PCR product will be processed for next generation sequencing using illumina platform. From this project we plan on learning whether or not the red deep sea crab are genetically identical or different by using bioinformatics analysis. It is anticipated that core microbiome should be stable; however, the flexible microbiome might vary overtime. The result generated will help us formulate future questions to understand how host factors play a role in the gut microbial community dynamics in response to stress and starvation. I would like to give a warm thank you to the National Science Foundation 1601057 for funding this research.

Not Submitted

Funder Acknowledgement(s): I would like to give a warm thank you to the National Science Foundation 1601057 for funding this research.

Faculty Advisor: Indu Sharma, Indu.Sharma@hamptonu.edu

Role: I will be extracting the crab's gut and performing DNA isolation, as well as running PCR.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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