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Biography |
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Dr. Mostafa Elshahed holds a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt (1993). After working as a pharmacist in Egypt for 3 years (1993-1996), he started his graduate studies in the United States at the University of Oklahoma. During graduate school, he worked under the guidance of Dr. Michael McInerney and researched pathways for the degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons under anaerobic conditions. He was a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Lee Krumholz, also at the University of Oklahoma. His post-doctoral research was centered on microbial community characterization in hydrocarbon-impacted environments. Dr. Elshahed joined the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics department at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma in January 2007 as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, and was promoted to a tenured Associate Professor in August 2011. Currently, Dr. Elshahed has multiple research interests. Some of them are a logical extension of his PhD and post-doctoral training e.g. environmental genomics and single cell genomics of anaerobic ecosystems, while others represent new research interests he developed since e.g. physiology and genomics of anaerobic fungi (Phylum Neocallimastigomycota). Dr. Elshahed has received the Junior Faculty Award for Scholarly Excellence College of Arts & Sciences at Oklahoma State University in 2010. Dr. Elshahed has published 53 peer-reviewed journal articles, authored 3 book chapters, and was invited to present his research in 20 different regional, national, and international venues.
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Abstract |
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Environmental Genomics as a powerful tool to discover and characterize uncultured microbes |
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It has long been known that a large fraction of microorganisms in natural environments could not be obtained in pure culture. Culture-independent, amplicon-based diversity surveys have clearly demonstrated that many of these uncultured microorganisms belong to novel phylogenetic lineages. New environmental genomics based approaches allow for the recovery of genomic fragments belonging to these novel uncultured lineages and hence provide a unique opportunity to elucidate their physiological properties, energy conservation pathways, and ecological significance in various ecosystems. I here present the results of a detailed in-silico analysis of genomes belonging to the uncultured candidate division WS3 “Latescibacteria”, obtained from the anoxic layers of a Meromictic lake (Sakinaw lake) in British Columbia, Canada. Metabolic reconstruction of WS3 genomes suggests an anaerobic fermentative mode of metabolism, as well as the capability to degrade multiple polysaccharides and glycoproteins (pectin, alginate, ulvan, fucan, hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins) that represent integral components of green (Charophyta and Chlorophyta) and brown (Phaeophycaea) algae cell walls. The “Latescibacteria” genomes also encode dedicated transporters for the uptake of produced sugars and amino acids/oligopeptides; and an extensive machinery for the catabolism of all transported sugars. Finally, genes for the formation of gas vesicles, flagella, type IV pili, and oxidative stress response were found, features that could aid in cellular association with algal detritus. Collectively, these results indicate that the analyzed “Latescibacteria” mediate the turnover of multiple complex organic polymers of algal origin that reach deeper anoxic/microoxic habitats in lakes and lagoons. The implications of such process on our understanding of niche specialization in microbial communities mediating organic carbon turnover in stratified water bodies are discussed. |
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