Jessica Fu, 2012, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
My project is about using molecular methods to detect human fecal pollution in Bermuda’s Coastal waters. We use a human-specific primer for a PCR reaction that only amplifies DNA from a bacteria called Bacteroides Prevotella that lives in the human gut. If this DNA is detected in water samples from around Bermuda, that indicates there is fecal pollution in the water from sewage outfalls or boreholes particularly contributed by human waste.