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：利用元组学工具来探索负责修复采矿废水的微生物群落金矿开采、煤炭和钢铁加工以及其他工业作业产生的废水通常含有化学硫氰酸盐，它可能对人类健康和环境有害。 在过去的二十年中，工程研究在微生物完全分解硫氰酸盐方面取得了进展。这项工作主要关注该过程的化学和物理参数，很大程度上忽略了所涉及微生物的生物学。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效率低下且不完整。硫氰酸盐被复杂微生物群落中发挥作用的微生物降解。宏基因组学、宏转录组学和宏蛋白质组学方法使研究人员能够研究此类群落中所有生物体的代谢能力和活动。使用这些方法来询问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。具体地，硫氰酸盐副产物是铵、硝酸盐等氮化合物；在释放或重新使用处理过的水之前，需要将这些物质去除。 氮循环是一种生物地球化学过程，也发生在环境中，并用于家庭废水处理。 因此，这项研究的结果将与自然系统具有基本的相关性，并可能对废水处理工艺的改进提出建议。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。

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.