An In silico Investigation of the Metabolic Capabilities of Anaeromyxobacter Dehalogenans and Field-scale Applications

• Main Author: Ma, Eugene
• Other Authors: Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Environmental Engineering; Microbial Models; Optimization; Genome Sequences; Metabolism; Parameter Fitting; 0542
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/35124

In recent years, uranium pollution in the environment has been recognized as a serious threat, and novel in situ microbial bioremediation strategies have been incorporated into field-scale contaminated sites. The Oak Ridge Integrated Field-scale Subsurface Research Challenge (IFC) site is one of the largest uranium contaminated areas in the United States, and a literature review has revealed the potential of uranium reduction by dominant Anaeromyxobacter dehalogenans species that respire during bioremediation. A genome-scale model of A. dehalogenans, a unique microbe with diverse metabolic capabilities that thrives in the natural environment, has been developed, and applied to an in silico field-scale computational setting for evaluation of the biotic uranium reduction in the Oak Ridge IFC site. The metabolic model of A. dehalogenans was integrated into an expanded microbial community framework for the prediction of chemical profiles, and subsequent scenario evaluation of in situ measured data.