In the Castenholz lab I work with cyanobacteria, microscopic bacteria which photosynthesize. The particular organisim I work with is a thermophile from a hot spring in Eastern Oregon.
Microorganisms are constantly under environmental stresses in their natural environment.
The ability to adapt to such stresses causes microorganisms to be an important organism to study in regards to evolutionary ecology. The cyanobacterium I have been studying responds to low nutrient conditions by reducing its chlorophyll content and increasing beta-carotene concentrations. In order to answer this question I have been diagnosing different ways that carbon is assimilated into the cells and then expose them to UV plus and minus treatments. In doing so, I hope to find which pathways of photosynthetic or non-photosynthetic growth are subject to UV inhibition under varying nutrient conditions. At the time I was very interested in symbiotic relationships which led me to study the possibility of a symbiotic interation between a species of phytoplankton and a marine bacterium.