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Exploiting the potential for biological reduction in waste and water treatment systems. Paul Flanagan. Supervisors: Dr C Allen, Dr L Kulakov, Professor M Larkin. Industrial mentor: Dr Geoff Wilcox BP. Objectives. Benzoate dioxygenase.
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Exploiting the potential for biological reduction in waste and water treatment systems Paul Flanagan Supervisors: Dr C Allen, Dr L Kulakov, Professor M Larkin Industrial mentor: Dr Geoff Wilcox BP
Objectives Benzoate dioxygenase Can key marker genes be used to predict degradation of pollutants? Benzoyl coa reductase Benzylsuccinate synthase Start date:- October 2007 End date:- September 2010
Potential benefits • Enhance understanding of anaerobic degradation • Develop site monitoring techniques • Generate data from polluted sites
Background Origin of pollution Oxygen concentration Anaerobic zone Upper layers aerobic Contaminants may be mobile Contaminants may be very stable
Aromatic hydrocarbon sources Green plant degradation FUEL Underground storage tanks Microbial formation
Aerobic degradation Relatively rapid Well studied × The full picture? Anaerobic degradation has potential Relatively new concept
Anaerobic pathway BCR Compounds are activated Benzoyl coa is a central intermediate Benzene ring is opened
Benzoate as a model system One enzymatic modification BCR
Methods N2 Microcosm set up Nitrogen atmosphere O2 Limit oxygen exposure Seal vials Destructive sampling
Primer design for qPCR Conserved regions exist in the benzoyl coa reductase subunits T. aromatica used as template
Chemical analysis HPLC Conditions:- 40:60 MeOH:C2H3O2NH4 Flow rate 0.5ml/min GC/MS Column temp: 120 °C for 0.5 min followed by ramp 3 °C/min to 140 °C followed by ramp 25 °C/min to 250 °C holding until completion. The spectra were scanned from 60 AMU to 180 AMU.
Results Benzoate breakdown Benzoate degraded under anaerobic conditions 0.35 5.810 0.30 0.25 0.20 AU 0.15 0.10 0.05 2.288 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00
Undiluted 1:10 1:50 1:100 1:250 1:500 1:1000 1:2000 T0 + + + + + - - - T2 + + + + + + + + Benzoate also broken down under aerobic conditions
Cloned BCR fragment 484bp inserted into pMOSBlue vector Similarity to T.aromatica BCR
Quantitative analysis 16S rDNA Copies increase over time ~6 fold increase
BCR gene Copies increase over time ~2.5 fold increase
Growth conditions Thauera aromatica Thauera ceh Azoarcus evansii Benzoate Aerobic + + Benzoate anaerobic + - + Toluene aerobic + N/A + heptamethylnonane - - - +
Origin of pollution B A Contaminated site study Samples courtesy of Shell Inside and outside zone of contamination Look for marker genes Look for relationship
BTEX Napthalene
Test 2 diverse sites Site within BTEX plume:- Examine the relationship between key genes Is degradation anaerobic? An environmentally different site:- Can key genes be detected?
PCR study 16s genes detected for both eubacteria and archaea BCR detected within the sea core
16S rDNA DGGE Eubacterial Diversity through the sample Complex community Thiomicrospira spp Sulfitobacter spp
Archaeal less complex community Most diversity found at deepest point of core Methanobacteriaceae spp Sea core samples provided by Dr Brian Kelleher, DCU
Potential uses of the marker gene system Polluted land Anaerobic lagoon processes Anaerobic sludge process in WWTW
Future work Complete BTEX studies Look for BCR gene in samples Apply qPCR to the DNA extracted Possible community structure Phylogenetic analysis of sea core samples
Acknowledgements Dr Brian Kelleher DCU Mike Spence and Shell QUESTOR