Brian P. Hedlund

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. University of Washington, Seattle

Ecology of Great Basin Hot Springs; Microbial Speciation

brian.hedlund@unlv.edu

My research focuses on the ecology of life in high temperature habitats, particularly continental hot springs. At temperatures above 73°C, photosynthesis cannot operate so organisms must gain energy by catalyzing oxidation-reduction reactions involving inorganic compounds, a process called chemolithotrophy. A primary goal of the Hedlund lab is to characterize chemolithotrophs that thrive in Great Boiling Springs, Nevada, and other hot springs and determine their roles in the ecology of these environments. Great Basin hot springs appear to be different from better-studied springs in Yellowstone National Park in that some of them seem to be dominated by different microbes. These particular microorganisms represent new phyla and classes that are new to science and their activities in nature are completely unknown.

To work toward a comprehensive understanding of how individual microorganisms operate as parts of high temperature ecosystems, my lab employs an integrated approach to microbial ecology, including thermodynamic modeling, spaciotemporal measurements of chemical species of interest in hot spring sediments and microcosms, microbial cultivation, and environmental genomics and transcriptomics. This research will allow us to better understand the foundations of life in hot springs and expand our knowledge of the diversity of life on Earth.

Selected Publications

• Elkins, J. G., V. Kunin, I. Anderson, K. Barry, E. Goltsman, A. Lapidus, B. P. Hedlund, P. Hugenholtz, N. Kyrpides, D. Graham, M. Keller, G. Wanner, P. Richardson, and K. O. Stetter. 2008. A korarchaeal genome reveals insights into the evolution of archaea. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 105: 8102-8107.
• Zhang, C. L., Qi Ye, Z. Huang, W.-J. Li, J. Chen, Z. Song, W. Zhao, C. Bagwell, W.P. Inskeep, L. Gao, J. Wiegel, C. Romanek, and B. P. Hedlund. 2008. Global occurrence and biogeography of putative archaeal amoA genes in terrestrial hot springs. Appl Environ. Microbiol. 74: 6417-26.
• Costa, K. C., D. P. Moser, J. Hallmark, J. B. Navarro, D. Soukup, S. LaBahn, and B. P. Hedlund. 2008. Diversity of heterotrophic microorganisms and geochemistry in two ephemeral desert playa lakes. Geomicrobiol. J. 25:250-259.
• Navarro, J. B., Andrea Flores, C. Ross, M. R. Rosen, H. Dong, G. Zhang, D. P. Moser, and B. P. Hedlund. Microbial community succession in an ephemeral hypereutrophic Mojave Desert playa lake. In press. Microbial Ecology.
• Huang, Z., B. P. Hedlund, J. Wiegel, J. Zhou, and C. L. Zhang. 2007. Molecular phylogeny of uncultivated Crenarchaeota in Great Basin hot springs of moderately elevated temperature. Geomicrobiol. J. 24: 535-542.
• Stetter, K.O., M.J. Hohn, H. Huber, R. Rachel, E. Mathur, B. P. Hedlund, U. Jahn. 2005. A novel kingdom of parasitic archaea. In W.P. Inskeep and T.R. McDermott (eds.) Geothermal Biology and Geochemistry in Yellowstone National Park, Montana State University Publications, Bozeman, MT, USA. pp. 249-259.
• R., Reinhart, M. Bettstetter, B. P. Hedlund, M. Häring, A. Kessler, K. O. Stetter, and D. Prangishvili. 2002. Remarkable morphological diversity of viruses and virus-like particles in hot terrestrial environments. Arch Virol. 147: 2419-2429.
• Hohn, M. J., B. P. Hedlund, and H. Huber. 2002. Detection of 16S rDNA sequences representing the novel phylum “Nanoarchaeota”: indication for a world-wide distribution in high temperature biotopes. Syst Appl Microbiol. 25: 551-554.
• Jenkins, C., R. Samudrala, I. Armstrong, B. P. Hedlund, G. Petroni, N. Michailova, N. Pinel, R. Overbeek, G. Rosati, and J. T. Staley. 2002. Genes for the cytoskeletal protein tubulin in the bacterial genus Prosthecobacter. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 99: 17049-17054.
• Hedlund, B. P., A. D. Geiselbrecht, T. J. Bair, and J. T. Staley. 1999. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation by a new marine bacterium, Neptunomonas naphthovorans gen. nov., sp. nov. Appl Env Microbiol. 65: 251-259.
• Hedlund, B. P., J. J. Gosink, and J. T. Staley. 1997. Verrucomicrobia div. nov., a new division of the bacteria containing three new species of Prosthecobacter. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 72: 29-38.