What kind of bacterial mat is in the insulation room at Ginnie?

Thanks to the low flow at Ginnie I was finally able to swim to the insulation room. It's a very cool passage. Does anyone know the type of the bacteria that is growing there? It looks very similar to the mats that grow in Maunds. It's neat looking stuff whatever it is.

Wingman should have some data around that...

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Originally Posted by Tegg

Wingman should have some data around that...

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Yes we did some work on that. We collected samples of the biofilm in the insulation room and using a 250mL sample examined fragments for bacterial, fungal, archaeal, and algal species using the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) that amplifies the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region or so I have been informed. This allows detection down to the species and sometimes the strain level. We ended up with 5 DNA samples that were extracted using a phenol-chloroform process and analyzed spectrophotometrically for purity and DNA quality. The DNA samples were amplified using a PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The samples were then further processed and loaded onto an ABI DNA sequencer and run according to the ARISA protocol. In each sample algae and bacteria were present and in a majority of the samples there was evidence for fungi. There were also indications of Archea results and most probably new species but that is not that unusual. So the insulation is a microbial community of algae, fungi, bacteria, and archaea bacteria. As a side note I have observed what appears to be this same biofilm in spots in the Ginnie Springs cavern. Bill

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Originally Posted by wingman

Yes we did some work on that. We collected samples of the biofilm in the insulation room and using a 250mL sample examined fragments for bacterial, fungal, archaeal, and algal species using the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) that amplifies the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region or so I have been informed. This allows detection down to the species and sometimes the strain level. We ended up with 5 DNA samples that were extracted using a phenol-chloroform process and analyzed spectrophotometrically for purity and DNA quality. The DNA samples were amplified using a PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The samples were then further processed and loaded onto an ABI DNA sequencer and run according to the ARISA protocol. In each sample algae and bacteria were present and in a majority of the samples there was evidence for fungi. There were also indications of Archea results and most probably new species but that is not that unusual. So the insulation is a microbial community of algae, fungi, bacteria, and archaea bacteria. As a side note I have observed what appears to be this same biofilm in spots in the Ginnie Springs cavern. Bill

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Seems like a lot of work. Couldn't you have just tasted it?

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Originally Posted by wingman

Yes we did some work on that. We collected samples of the biofilm in the insulation room and using a 250mL sample examined fragments for bacterial, fungal, archaeal, and algal species using the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) that amplifies the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region or so I have been informed. This allows detection down to the species and sometimes the strain level. We ended up with 5 DNA samples that were extracted using a phenol-chloroform process and analyzed spectrophotometrically for purity and DNA quality. The DNA samples were amplified using a PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The samples were then further processed and loaded onto an ABI DNA sequencer and run according to the ARISA protocol. In each sample algae and bacteria were present and in a majority of the samples there was evidence for fungi. There were also indications of Archea results and most probably new species but that is not that unusual. So the insulation is a microbial community of algae, fungi, bacteria, and archaea bacteria. As a side note I have observed what appears to be this same biofilm in spots in the Ginnie Springs cavern. Bill

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuhYd9L_d7w

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Originally Posted by MikeT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuhYd9L_d7w

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For MikeT: Ya know when ya wake up in the mornin an you run you tongue all over you remaining teeth and you go wtf that feels slimy like there's a layer of crud in ya mouth and ya start wunerin what mighta crawled in ya piehole and died whilst you were a sawin them logs? Well what's in your mouth is similar to what you are looking at in the insulation room only on a larger scale and with a differing microbial diversity... whoops again, change differing microbial diversity to buncha diffrint really tiny critters.

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Originally Posted by OFG-1

Seems like a lot of work. Couldn't you have just tasted it?

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That was the first test...tasted like chicken salad, hard to get a good mouthful though. Have you ever tried to sample the stuff? It does not combine nicely. I'm sure you have seen what an errant fin kick can do in there. You can just about tell along the main passage when someone has been in that room as there are bits of the stuff floating everywhere sort of like tiny feathers. Bill

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Originally Posted by wingman

For MikeT: Ya know when ya wake up in the mornin an you run you tongue all over you remaining teeth and you go wtf that feels slimy like there's a layer of crud in ya mouth and ya start wunerin what mighta crawled in ya piehole and died whilst you were a sawin them logs? Well what's in your mouth is similar to what you are looking at in the insulation room only on a larger scale and with a differing microbial diversity... whoops again, change differing microbial diversity to buncha diffrint really tiny critters.

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You're way off base...my mouth never tastes like chicken salad in the morning.

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Originally Posted by wingman

Yes we did some work on that... In each sample algae and bacteria were present and in a majority of the samples there was evidence for fungi. There were also indications of Archea results and most probably new species but that is not that unusual. So the insulation is a microbial community of algae, fungi, bacteria, and archaea bacteria. As a side note I have observed what appears to be this same biofilm in spots in the Ginnie Springs cavern. Bill

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I wish every question here would have such a detailed answer. So they are mushrooms salad, yum... Is it the same nature as the colony in Peacock`s Waterhole passage?

That's really awesome. Thanks for the explanation.