M1 Internship
2019

Measuring methane in coral reef fishes intestinal microbiota

Keywords microbial ecology, coral reef fish, methanogenesis, gas chromatography, PCR

From April to June 2019, I had the opportunity to work at the MARBEC lab in Montpellier, France, under the supervision of Dr Jean-Christophe Auguet and Dr Marie-Charlotte Cheutin.

The project aimed to explore a fascinating question: Does the gut microbiota of fish significantly contribute to total CH₄ production?

Our first goal was to assess the abundance and diversity of methanogenic archaea in the fish microbiota using PCR analysis.

Additionally, we measured CH₄ emissions from fish collected in the Mediterranean Sea using gas chromatography and mass detection.

Although my short internship yielded only preliminary results and a prototype, it was an amazing experience to discover microbiology methods, participate in fieldwork collecting fish, and participate in a large project.

You can find my presentation support (in french)

My bibliographic work (in french)

Find the thesis of Marie-Charlotte

And the website of the MARBEC