Getting the Dirt on Viruses: Literally.

The project is now officially underway!

 

Recently, we headed out to Sunset Lake with Sam, another student in the lab, and collected a nice big tub of mud from the edge of the lake, as well as some lake water and leaf litter from a nearby trail. The sediment needed to be filtered several times to remove all the rocks, twigs, and other lumps and bumps. We got pretty muddy in the process – science can be messy!

 

Once we had collected all the samples we needed, we carted it all back to the lab to prepare our columns. Each column received a layer of enriched sediment, with added nutrients and pulverized leaf litter mixed in, topped with the remaining raw sediment.

 

 

Each column contains about half of a liter of sediment, from which we will isolate viral DNA. We froze two columns to serve as Day Zero time points, to look at the virome as it was before the columns mature. The other three columns will incubate for about 60 days, allowing the microbial community within the column to grow and develop.

 

This is a column at about three days of growth. We can already see some great colors and layers forming in the columns as the bacterial colonies develop and begin to fill various ecological niches. Take a look back at the time-lapse videos we shared during our campaign to get a sense of the development the columns are undergoing.

What’s up next: In the next few weeks, we will continue to test methods for virus and DNA extraction, the columns will keep incubating, and we will keep updating you on new developments!