This award supports the acquisition of a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) to be used in studies of microbial ecology including: (1) the identification via gene probes of novel intracellular pathogens of amoebae, (2) termite gut prokaryote symbionts, (3) ecology of food-borne bacteria with respect to environmental protozoa, (4) the identification of food vacuole contents of bacteria-feeding protozoa in nature, and (5) the feeding rates and selectivity of bacterivorous protists, including those with algal symbionts. The CLSM will enhance and promote research at Tennessee Technological University as well as at Middle Tennessee State University, a nearby state institution that will have access to this instrument.
