Water Resources Research Act Program

Principal Investigators: William Holben

Abstract: The goal of the proposed research is to conduct comprehensive genotypic and phenotypic analyses on a series E. coli isolates from wild mammals at all three levels of cellular information flow: genome, transcriptome and proteome, and to apply the information to the problem of tracking nonpoint sources of fecal water contamination. Standard fingerprinting techniques (rep-PCR) as well as techniques for looking for differences in transcriptome and proteome composition (microarray based transcriptional profiling and 2D gel electrophoresis) will be performed on E. coli isolates from several different types of mammal host from Western Montana. Data will be collected into a single relational database and analyzed using state-of-the-art software to draw conclusions about the potential for classification of unknown E. coli isolates from contaminated water using a proteomics approach. The creation of a MST database for the state of Montana will result in an enhanced ability of water quality officials to identify and eliminate sources of fecal contamination and greatly improve the health of our state waters.