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Abstract
Bacteria capable of dehalogenation via reductive or hydrolytic pathways are ubiquitous. Little is known, however, about the prevalence of bacterial dechlorination in deep terrestrial environments with a limited carbon supply. In this study we analyzed published genomes from three deep terrestrial subsurface sites: a deep aquifer in Western Siberia, the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, USA, and the Soudan Underground Iron Mine (SUIM) in Minnesota, USA to determine if there was evidence to suggest that microbial dehalogenation was possible in these environments. Diverse dehalogenase genes were present in all analyzed metagenomes, with reductive dehalogenase and haloalkane dehalogenase genes the most common. Taxonomic analysis of both hydrolytic and reductive dehalogenase genes was performed to explore their affiliation; this analysis indicated that at the SUIM site, hydrolytic dehalogenase genes were taxonomically affiliated with Marinobacter species. Because of this affiliation, experiments were also performed with Marinobacter subterrani strain JG233 ('JG233'), an organism containing three predicted hydrolytic dehalogenase genes and isolated from the SUIM site, to determine whether hydrolytic dehalogenation was an active process and involved in growth on a chlorocarboxylic acid. Presence of these genes in genome appears to be functional, as JG233 was capable of chloroacetate dechlorination with simultaneous chloride release. Stable isotope experiments combined with confocal Raman microspectroscopy demonstrated that JG233 incorporated carbon from 13C-chloroacetate into its biomass. These experiments suggest that organisms present in these extreme and often low-carbon environments are capable of reductive and hydrolytic dechlorination and, based on laboratory experiments, may use this capability as a competitive advantage by utilizing chlorinated organic compounds for growth, either directly or after dechlorination.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | fiac054 |
Journal | FEMS microbiology ecology |
Volume | 98 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). Confocal RAMAN micro spectroscopy was carried out in the Characterization Facility, University of Minnesota, which receives partial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Material Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) (Award Number DMR-2011401) and the National Nanotechnology Cordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) (Award Number ECCS-2025124) programs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.
Keywords
- chlorine cycling
- dechlorination
- deep subsurface
- Marinobacter
- organohalide respiration
MRSEC Support
- Shared
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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University of Minnesota Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-2011401)
Leighton, C. (PI) & Lodge, T. (CoI)
THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
9/1/20 → 8/31/26
Project: Research project