Project description:A bacterial strain identified as Cupriavidus basilensis uses aromatic compounds as carbon and energy sources and has a high capability to transform the structurally related and hormonally active substance bisphenol A (BPA). Biphenyl-grown and phenol-grown cells converted BPA to five products within 24 h of incubation representing four different transformation pathways: (a) ring hydroxylation, (b) ring fission, (c) transamination and acetylation, and (d) dimerization. Products of the ring fission pathway were non-toxic and all five products exhibited a significantly reduced estrogenic activity compared to BPA. Cell cultivation in nutrient broth resulted in lower product quantities and dimerization was not proved. Thus the question arose whether enzymes of the biphenyl or phenol degradation pathway are involved in the transformation of BPA. Proteomic analyses revealed the constitutive expression of biphenyl degrading enzymes and indicated that the 2,3 dihydroxybiphenyl-1,2-dioxygenase might catalyse the meta-cleavage of the aromatic ring of BPA while enzymes of other pathways seemed to be involved in ring hydroxylation.
Project description:Volatilization of lower-chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyls (LC-PCBs) from sediment poses health threats to nearby communities and ecosystems. Biodegradation combined with black carbon (BC) materials is an emerging approach to remove PCBs from sediment, but development of aerobic biofilms on BC for long-term, sustained LC-PCBs remediation is poorly understood. This work aimed to characterize cell enrichment and activity of biphenyl- and benzoate-grown Paraburkholderia xenovorans strain LB400 on various BCs. Biphenyl dioxygenase gene (bphA) abundance on four BC types demonstrated corn kernel biochar hosted at least four orders of magnitude more attached cells per gram than other feedstocks, and microscopic imaging revealed the attached live cell fraction was >1.5X more on corn kernel biochar than GAC. BC characteristics (i.e., sorption potential, surface area, pH) drove cell attachment differences. Reverse transcription qPCR indicated BC feedstocks significantly influenced bphA expression in attached cells. The bphA transcript-per-gene ratio of attached cells was >10-fold more than suspended cells, confirmed by transcriptomics. RNA-seq also demonstrated significant upregulation of biphenyl and benzoate degradation pathways on attached cells, revealing biofilm formation potential and cell-cell communication pathway connections. These novel findings demonstrate aerobic PCB-degrading cell abundance and activity could be tuned by adjusting BC feedstocks/ attributes to improve LC-PCBs biodegradation.
