HR: 0800h
AN: B51B-0365    [Abstracts]
TI: A Natural Niche of Dehalococcoides Species
AU: * Krzmarzick, M J
EM: krzma006@umn.edu
AF: University of Minnesota, 122 Civil Engineering 500 Pillsbury Dr SE, Minneapolis, MN 55403,
AU: Novak, P
EM: novak010@umn.edu
AF: University of Minnesota, 122 Civil Engineering 500 Pillsbury Dr SE, Minneapolis, MN 55403,
AU: Myneni, S
EM: smyneni@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Geochemistry Department 151 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544,
AU: Leri, A
EM: aleria@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Geochemistry Department 151 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544,
AU: Harding, J
EM: jjhardin@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Geochemistry Department 151 Guyot Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544,
AB: Dehalorespirers such as Dehalococcoides have been found to dechlorinate a wide variety of chlorinated organic compounds from anthropogenic sources. Several of these compounds are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic, and low cost methods of remediation are of critical importance. One major challenge of remediation of these compounds is the ability to successfully stimulate the growth of these organisms using safe alternative electron acceptors. Recently, large quantities of natural organochlorines have been found to exist in nature, and it is plausible that these natural compounds may be capable of stimulating the growth of dehalorespirers. This research tests the hypothesis that dehalorespirers are a natural component of uncontaminated ecosystems and that their presence is linked to the presence of natural chlorinated organic compounds, which they presumably respire. Thirty two individual soil samples and one soil core were collected from a variety of undisturbed, pristine ecosystems. The DNA of the bacteria in these soil samples was extracted and the presence and absence of Dehalococcoides-like species was determined. All samples contained Dehalococcoides-like species, despite the fact that the samples were from pristine locations. Fluorescent in situ hybridization and sequencing was used to confirm the presence of Dehalococcoides-like organisms in the samples. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction has been used to quantify the numbers of Dehalococcoides-like species in the samples and in a soil core. These numbers will be correlated with the quantity of chlorinated organic matter in the samples. It appears that dehalorespirers are present in environments in which xenobiotic chlorinated compounds are absent, therefore indicating that dehalorespirers might play a role in the natural terrestrial chlorine cycle.
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0418 Bioremediation
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting