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Microbiology and Ecology Core

 

Microbiology and Ecology Core

 

The Microbiology and Ecology Core at the Department of Biology provides resources for studying environmental matrices such assoils, rivers, lakes, seas, thermal springs. Moreover, the core offersthe possibility of isolating, identifying, and characterizingmicroorganisms from the environment and animals.

 


Isolation and Characterization of Microorganisms from Natural Habitat Core

Coordinators:

Prof. Loredana Baccigalupi (lorbacci@unina.it)

Prof. Angelina Cordone (angelina.cordone@unina.it)

Prof. Donato Giovannelli (donato.giovannelli@unina.it)

Prof. Rachele Isticato (isticato@unina.it)

Prof. Ezio Ricca (ericca@unina.it)

Prof. Anella Saggese (anella.saggese@unina.it)

Prof. Mario Varcamonti (varcamon@unina.it)

Prof. Anna Zanfardino (anna.zanfardino@unina.it)

 

The main objective of the proposed CORE is to leverage the expertise and equipment of the Microbiology Group of the Department of Biology of the University of Naples Federico II to isolate and characterize microorganisms from natural habitats, including soil, water, and animal samples. These activities allow the identification of new microbial species potentially useful for industrial, environmental, and biomedical applications and enhance the understanding of biodiversity in various natural environments.

 

  1. Isolation of Microorganisms:
    • Use of traditional microbiological techniques, such as inoculation on selective and non-selective culture media, to promote the growth of different microorganisms (bacteria and fungi).
    • Incubation under controlled conditions (temperature, pH, oxygen) to optimize isolation.
  1. Phenotypic Characterization:
    • Morphological analysis by optical microscopy.
    • Biochemical tests to determine enzymatic activities, metabolic profiles, and antibiotic resistance.
    • Identification of specific characteristics (e.g., digestion of organic substances, production of natural antibiotics, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory activities).
    • Analysis of antimicrobial activity of natural substances and synthetic molecules on bacterial and fungal model systems.
  1. Genotypic Characterization:
    • Molecular identification (16S/18S rRNA gene sequencing).
    • Genome sequencing and bioinformatic analyses.
  2. Biodiversity Assessment:
    •   Analysis of the microbial composition and the metabolic potential of the sample.
    • Determination of diversity indices.

 

Potential Samples for Analysis:

  •   Soil: Samples from various depths and locations to ensure representativeness of the microbial population.
  •   Water: Surface and deep waters from rivers, lakes, seas, or thermal springs.
  •   Animal Samples: Animal tissues, bodily fluids.

 

Potential Outcomes/Applications of the CORE:

  • Discovery of new microorganisms with potential biotechnological applications.
  • Contribution to the knowledge of microbial biodiversity and the functioning and conservation of natural ecosystems.
  • Production of microbial biomass
  • Evaluation of the antimicrobial and antifungal properties of substances of interest

 

Equipment:

  • Autoclaves and Laminar Flow hoods
  • Cell-incubation systems
  • Plas Labs hood, mod. Compact Glove Box With Transfer Chamber And Flat A
  • DNA and protein electrophoresis instruments
  • Real-time thermal cyclers
  • Flow – Cytofluorimeter (BD AccuriTM C)
  • Densitometer and Sonicator
  • Microplate reader (Beckman)
  • Phase contrast microscope
  • Fluorescence microscope
  • Benchtop Scanning Electron microscope
  • Inverted microscope

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All the users and collaborators of the Medaka Fish Core are obligated to acknowledge the Core in publications: “The authors acknowledge the Isolation and Characterization of Microorganisms from Natural Habitats Core at Department of Biology of University of Naples Federico II for their scientific support

Soil Health Core

  

Coordinator:

Prof. Giulia Maisto

Dr. Lucia Santorufo 

email: giulia.maisto@unina.it

email: lucia.santorufo@unina.it

The Department of Biology at University of Naples Federico II hosts the Soil Health Core which provides resources for research projects, teaching classes and PhD students involved in knowing the health status of soils. Nowadays, protecting and restoring healthy soils are essential EU strategies for 2030 in order to limit climate changes, to stop desertification and land degradation, to reverse biodiversity loss. Moreover, healthy soils guarantee healthy food and safeguard human health. The Soil Health Core supports researchers in studying the biodiversity and functionality of the edaphic community and in assessing the soil ecotoxicity to test hypotheses concerning the impacts of stress and perturbations on soil health. It also provides useful tools in order to identify single and integrated indices to evaluate the level of soil health and to propose bioindicators of environmental stressors.

The Soil Health Core offers the opportunity to investigate within the research areas by using the equipment reported below.

Research Areas:

  •  Bacterial, fungal and microarthropod biodiversity
  •  Microbial respiration and enzymatic activity
  •  Functional biodiversity of the microbial and microarthropod communities
  •  Ecotoxicological assays

Major Equipment:

  • FastPrep-24™ 5G Instrument is a high-speed benchtop homogenizer offering the ultimate in speed and performance for the lysis of biological samples
  • MacFadyen soil microarthropod extractor automatically expels soil arthropods, especially mites and collembolans. Soil samples are heated from above and arthropods move towards the cool area and are collected in vessels on the underside of the extractor
  • Ivesta 3 is a stereomicroscope equipped with FusionOptics technology that simultaneously combines high resolution with a large depth of field, allowing to perceive samples in 3D with up to 3 times greater

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All the users and collaborators of the Soil Health Research are obligated to acknowledge the facility in publications: “The authors acknowledge the Soil Health Core at Department of Biology of University of Naples Federico II for their scientific support.”

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