Novel fungal taxa in an Alaskan boreal forest: phylogenetic affinities, ecologies, and ribosomal RNA secondary structures
dc.contributor.author | Glass, Daniel | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-10-24T00:00:58Z | |
dc.date.available | 2020-10-24T00:00:58Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2011-12 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11389 | |
dc.description | Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2011 | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | Phylogenetic analyses suggest that a novel DNA sequence (NS1) found in a boreal forest soil-clone library belongs to the fungal kingdom but does not fall unambiguously within any known class. In order to determine if NS1 codes for an authentic ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene-copy, I modeled ribosomal RNA secondary structure for four gene regions. Such analyses have never been used on environmental ribosomal sequences before. It appears that NS1 does code for an authentic gene-copy and is not a biological or lab artifact. I also elucidated the habitat preferences, horizon preferences, and fine-scale spatial structure of NS1 using molecular methods. I determined that NS1 was associated with spruce and was found in both the organic and mineral soil horizons. It appears to have a clumped distribution on the scale of a few meters and its spatial distribution shows little inter-annual variability. Together these findings suggest that NS1 does represent an authentic gene-copy and also shed light on the ecology of this putative taxon. I hope future efforts will expand our understanding of both its identity and function. | en_US |
dc.description.tableofcontents | 1. Evaluation of the authenticity of a highly novel environmental sequence from boreal forest soil using ribosomal RNA secondary structure modeling -- 2. Habitat preferences, micro-spatial structure, and temporal persistence of a novel fungal taxon in Alaskan boreal forest soils -- Conclusions -- Literature cited -- Appendix. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.subject | fungi | en_US |
dc.subject | Alaska | en_US |
dc.subject | genetics | en_US |
dc.subject | habitat | en_US |
dc.subject | mycological surveys | en_US |
dc.title | Novel fungal taxa in an Alaskan boreal forest: phylogenetic affinities, ecologies, and ribosomal RNA secondary structures | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.type.degree | ms | en_US |
dc.identifier.department | Department of Biology and Wildlife | en_US |
dc.contributor.chair | Taylor, D. Lee | |
dc.contributor.committee | Olson, Link E. | |
dc.contributor.committee | Takebayashi, Naoki | |
dc.contributor.committee | Duffy, Lawrence | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2020-10-24T00:00:58Z |
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Biological Sciences
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