Extracellular Enzyme Activity from Hot Springs in Panama

Microbes found in subsurface water and sediment play an important role in biogeochemical cycling. Heterotrophic microbes require extracellular enzymes to cleave bonds of macromolecules, in order to take up and ultimately metabolize organic carbon and nutrients. Geothermal features are characterized by a wide range of temperatures, pH, and other geochemical parameters, and can add to our understanding of microbial effects on fluxes in the carbon cycle. Here we perform enzyme assays to examine microbes from various hot springs in Panama and their enzymatic activity on different substrates. Using temperatures similar to that of the hot springs, we use fluorogenic substrate proxies to assay the potential activities of diverse extracellular enzymes in multiple hydrothermal springs. We will compare extracellular enzyme activities to 16S libraries and metagenomes from the same sites to better understand microbial degradation of polymeric material in these geothermal environments.