Annette Summers Engel
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Annette Summers Engel
Annette Engel conducts interdisciplinary research that includes cave and karst aquifer evolution and speleogenesis, the role of natural organic matter in karst, geochemical controls on microbial metabolism, oil degradation and trajectories following environmental disturbances, the biodiversity of cave systems and coastal marine habitats, and symbiotic associations between bacteria and clams, invertebrates, and alligators. Her research falls broadly within the discipline of geomicrobiology, the study of the interactions between microorganisms and their geological and geochemical surroundings. Research involves a range of classical inorganic and organic geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry, and molecular genetics methods within a microbial systems biology approach.
Much of the instrumentation is available in Dr. Engel’s laboratory. To quantify inorganic and organic compounds in water and gases, she applies basic wet and dry chemistry methods, ion chromatography, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. She also uses X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation to understand mineralogical and elemental composition of natural materials. She uses stable isotope geochemistry, specifically of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, to characterize microbial signatures in water and sediment. For systems biology, she applies genomics and bioinformatics approaches that include DNA amplification protocols for PCR and quantitative PCR, and different gene sequencing methods, including next-generation high-throughput 454 and Illumina platform sequencing technologies to obtain DNA-based gene sequences and metagenomes (“who is there?”) and also RNA-based transcriptomes (“what are they doing?”) from environmental samples. To investigate metabolic potential directly from a sample, she routinely uses classical culturing methods and enzymatic assays. She also examines samples microscopically using gene probes for a full-cycle approach, where she can obtain genetic information and then probe material with specially designed probes to target specific microbes.”
Publications
Edited Books
- Klimchouk, A., Sasowsky, I.D., Mylroie, J., Engel, S.A., Engel, A.S. (editors) (2014) Hypogene Cave Morphologies. Selected papers and abstracts of the symposium held February 2 through 7, 2014, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Karst Waters Institute Special Publication 18: Leesburg, Virginia, 111 p.
- Engel, A.S., Engel, S.A., Moore, P.J., and DuChene, H. (eds.) (2011) Carbonate Geochemistry: Reactions and Processes in Aquifers and Reservoirs. Selected papers and abstracts of the symposium held August 6 through 9, 2011, Billings, Montana. Karst Waters Institute Special Publication 16, Karst Waters Institute, Leesburg, Virginia, 84 p.
- Engel, A.S. and Engel, S.A. (eds.) (2009) Select Field Guides to Cave and Karst Lands of the United States. Karst Waters Institute Special Publication 15, Leesburg, Virginia, 184 p.
Journals
- Turner, R.E., Overton, E.B., Ashton, B.M., Miles, M.S., McClenachan, G., Hooper-Bui, L., Engel, A.S., Swenson, E.M., Lee, J.M., Milan, C.S., Gao, H. (2014) Distribution and recovery trajectory of Macondo (Mississippi Canyon 252) oil in Louisiana salt marshes. Marine Pollution Bulletin. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.08.011.
- Headd, B., Engel, A.S. (2014) Congruency among bacterial communities from terrestrial sulfidic springs. Frontiers in Microbiology – Extreme Microbiology section. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00473.
- Hooper-Bui, L., Rabalais, N.N., Engel, A.S., Turner, R.E., McClenachan, G., Robert, B., Overton, E.B., Justic, D., Strudivant, K., Brown, K., Conover, J. (2014) Overview of Research into the coastal effects of the Macondo Blowout from the Coastal Waters Consortium: A GoMRI Consortium. International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings. American Petroleum Institute. 1:604-617. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2014.1.604
- Engel, A.S., Gupta, A. (2014) Regime shift in sandy beach microbial communities following Deepwater Horizon oil spill remediation efforts. PLoS One. 9(7): e102934, DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0102934.
- Engel, A.S., Bovenkamp, G.L., Prange, A., Hormes, F.J. (2014) In situ speciation of sulfur vapors using X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy. Chemical Geology. 380: 1-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.04.019.
- Yin, J., Rekepalli, B., Patel, P. Drennen, C., Engel, A.S. (2014) Instrumenting genomic sequence analysis pipeline mothur on shared memory architecture. XSEDE '14 Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Conference on Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, ACM New York, NY, USA; Article No. 19. DOI:10.1145/2616498.2616505.
- Hutchins, B., Schwartz, B., Engel, A.S. (2013) Environmental controls on organic matter production and transport across surface-subsurface and geochemical boundaries in the Edwards Aquifer, Texas, USA. Acta Carsologica 42/2-3: 245–259.
- Keenan, S., Engel, A.S., Elsey, R.M. (2013) The alligator gut microbiome and implications for archosaur symbiosis. Scientific Reports. 3:2877. DOI:10.1038/srep02877.
- Engel, A.S., Paoletti, M.G., Beggio, M., Dorigo, L., Pamio, A., Gomiero, T., Furlan, C., Brilli, M., Bertonie, R., Dreon, A.L. (2013) Comparative microbial community composition from secondary carbonate (moonmilk) deposits: implications for the Cansiliella servadeii cave hygropetric food web. International Journal of Speleology. 42: 181-192. DOI: 10.5038/1827-806X.42.3.2.
- Paoletti, M.G., Mazzon, L., Sanudo, I.Z., Simonato, M., Beggio, M., Dreon, A.L., Pamio, A., Brilli, M., Dorigo, L., Engel, A.S., Tondello, A., Baldan, B., Concheri, G., Squartini, A. (2013) A unique midgut-associated bacterial community hosted by the cave beetle Cansiliella servadeii (Coleoptera: Leptodirini) reveals parallel phylogenetic divergences from universal gut-specific ancestors. BMC Microbiology. 13:129. DOI:10.1186/1471-2180-13-129.
- Headd, B., Engel, A.S. (2013) Evidence for niche partitioning revealed by the distribution of sulfur oxidation genes collected from areas of a terrestrial sulfidic spring with differing geochemical conditions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 79: 1171-1182. DOI:10.1128/AEM.02812-12.
- Gray, C.J., Engel, A.S. (2013) Microbial diversity and impact on carbonate geochemistry across a changing geochemical gradient. The ISME Journal. 7: 325:337. DOI:10.1038/ismej.2012.105.
- Engel, A.S., Johnson, L.R., Porter, M.L. (2013) Arsenite oxidase gene diversity among Chloroflexi and Proteobacteria from El Tatio Geyser Field, Chile. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 83: 745–756. DOI: 10.1111/1574-6941.12030.
- Green-Garcia, A.M., Engel, A.S. (2012) Bacterial diversity of siliciclastic sediments in a Thalassia testudinum meadow and the implications for Lucinisca nassula chemosymbiosis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 112: 153-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2012.07.010.
- Rossmassler, K., Engel, A.S., Twing, K., Hanson, T.E, Campbell, B.J (2012) Drivers of Epsilonproteobacteria community composition in sulfidic caves and springs. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 79:421-432. DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01231.x
Book chapters
- Lee, N.M., Liebl, W.E., Engel, A.S., Porter, M.L. (2013) Cave biofilm metagenomics. In: Nelson K. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Metagenomics: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, SpringerReference www.springerreference.com. DOI: 10.1007/SpringerReference_331411.
- Engel, A.S. (2012) Microbes, in Culver, D. and W. White, (eds.) Encyclopedia of Caves. 2nd Edition, p. 490-499.
- Engel, A.S. (2012) Chemoautotrophy, in Culver, D. and W. White, (eds.) Encyclopedia of Caves. 2nd Edition. p. 125-134.
- Lee, N.M., Meiginger, D.B., Aubrecht, R., Kovacic, L., Saiz-Jimenez, C. Baskar, S.R., Schleifer, K.-H., Liebl, W., Porter, M.L., Engel, A.S. (2012) Life in caves, in Bell, E. (ed.) Life at Extremes: Environments, Organisms and Strategies for Survival. CAB Publishing. p. 302-344.
- Engel, A.S. (2011) Karst ecosystems, in Reitner, J., and Thiel, V. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Geobiology, Springer Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series (EESS, formerly Kluwer Edition), Berlin Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, pp. 521-53. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1.
- Engel, A.S. (2010) Microbial diversity of cave ecosystems, in Barton, L., Mandl, M., and Loy, A. (eds.), Geomicrobiology: Molecular & Environmental Perspectives, Springer. p. 219-238. DOI:10.1007/978-90-481-9204-5_10.
Contact
Phone: 865-974-0402
Email: aengel1@utk.edu
Professional Website: annettesummersengel.com
Research Interests
Understand and improve water and environmental quality by exploring how biological activities interact with and impact geological and geochemical processes through time using advanced geochemistry and geomicrobiology methods.
