Biotechnology of thiocyanate degradation: an exploration using meta-omics tools to understand the microbial communities responsible for remediation of mining wastewater

硫氰酸盐降解生物技术：利用元组学工具了解负责采矿废水修复的微生物群落的探索

• 批准号: 1349278
• 负责人: Jillian Banfield
• 金额: $ 25.51万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1349278&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Biotechnology; thiocyanate; degradation; exploration; using

Biotechnology of thiocyanate degradation: an exploration using meta-omics tools to understand the microbial communities responsible for remediation of mining wastewater Wastewater from gold mining, coal and steel processing, and other industrial operations often contains the chemical thiocyanate, which can be harmful to human health and the environment. In last two decades, engineering research has yielded progress toward the complete breakdown of thiocyanate by microorganisms. This work primarily focused on the chemical and physical parameters of the process and largely ignored the biology of the microorganisms involved. As a result, current efforts to harness the potential of microorganisms in the form of on-site industrial biotechnology yield inefficient and incomplete remediation. Thiocyanate is degraded by microorganisms that function within the context of complex microbial communities. Metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics methods allow researchers to study the metabolic capacities and activities of all organisms in such communities. Using these approaches to interrogate samples from a bioreactor treating thiocyanate in the laboratory, investigators will learn which organisms are responsible for breakdown of thiocyanate and which have the potential to degrade byproducts as well. Specifically, thiocyanate byproducts are nitrogen compounds such as ammonium and nitrate; these need to be removed prior to release or re-use of treated water. The nitrogen cycle is a biogeochemical process that also occurs in the environment and is harnessed for domestic wastewater treatment. Thus, results from this study will have the basic relevance to natural systems and may suggest improvements to wastewater treatment processes as well. Graduate and undergraduate students from the US will travel to South Africa to work in the laboratory of the collaborator, gaining valuable international experience.

硫氰酸盐降解的生物技术：探索使用元组学工具来了解负责采矿废水修复的微生物群落来自金矿开采、煤炭和钢铁加工以及其他工业操作的废水通常含有化学物质硫氰酸盐，这可能对人类健康和环境有害。 在过去的二十年里，工程研究已经取得了进展，通过微生物完全分解硫氰酸盐。这项工作主要集中在该过程的化学和物理参数，在很大程度上忽略了所涉及的微生物的生物学。因此，目前以现场工业生物技术的形式利用微生物潜力的努力产生低效和不完全的补救。硫氰酸盐被在复杂微生物群落环境中发挥作用的微生物降解。宏基因组学、元转录组学和元蛋白质组学方法使研究人员能够研究这些群落中所有生物的代谢能力和活动。使用这些方法来询问来自实验室中处理硫氰酸盐的生物反应器的样品，研究人员将了解哪些生物体负责硫氰酸盐的分解，哪些生物体也有可能降解副产物。具体而言，硫氰酸盐副产物是氮化合物，如铵和硝酸盐;这些需要在释放或重新使用处理过的水之前去除。 氮循环是一种生物地球化学过程，也发生在环境中，用于家庭废水处理。 因此，这项研究的结果将与自然系统具有基本的相关性，并可能建议改进废水处理工艺。来自美国的研究生和本科生将前往南非，在合作者的实验室工作，获得宝贵的国际经验。