Biology majors Yen Nguyen and Jessica Thawley discovered a new bacteria species during their marine microbiology (MICR 401L) lab in spring 2016. The new species belongs in a genus called Piscirickettsia. The only other known species in that genus causes disease in some fish, but the one Nguyen and Thawley discovered appears to be free-living.
To help formally characterize the new species, Alex Lee a microbiology and English major, joined the 2016 cohort of the NSF-funded program at 糖心Vlog官方 Mānoa. With the assistance of of the , and Ivy Wan and Shaobin Hou from , Lee completed a draft of the genome sequence of the new species, which was published in the journal .
A draft genome sequence may contain gaps, or have parts in the wrong order, so to complete the sequence, Lee was awarded $5,000 by the . Completing the sequence will provide insights into the evolution of pathogenicity in the genus, and help resolve relationships among the bacteria in the family Piscirickettsiaceae.
—By Tony Hall