OPUS: Connecting genomics data with subsurface microbial biogeochemistry of a contaminated aquifer.

几十年来，科学家们一直使用环境科学中的经典方法来描述受碳氢化合物污染的地下水含水层的特征。这些方法，包括测量有机化学污染物的浓度、酸度和氧含量等其他化学条件以及微生物种群的生理和遗传特征，提供了受污染地下水的丰富特征。然而，这些数据并没有利用分子生物学的最新进展，这些进展极大地扩展了我们表征微生物有机体的能力，这些微生物有机体通常对修复工作至关重要。在这个项目中，自1991年以来一直研究受污染含水层的研究人员将把他关于该含水层的数据与分子生物学中先进的基因组方法产生的最新数据联系起来。DNA和RNA序列的分子数据将为研究人员提供探索地球化学数据与微生物分子特征之间的界限、前沿和实用关系的机会，并有可能发现微生物组合的代谢如何决定含水层地球化学。研究人员研究了纽约南格伦斯瀑布哈德逊河附近的浅层含水层的微生物和地球化学特性，该含水层被富含萘的煤焦油废物污染。该项目旨在为污染物生物降解的微生物生物地球化学提供新的见解。OPUS项目的总体目标是将以前的地球化学和微生物数据与最近创建的DNA测序数据结合起来，特别是由美国能源部联合基因组研究所微生物群落测序项目产生的组学信息。研究人员将使用统计和其他分析程序来辨别该地点动态微生物和地球化学过程之间的新的因果关系。在这个地下站点催化的关键过程的信息将加深对居住在该研究站点的微生物组成和功能的理解，并建立可以转移到其他生态环境的原则。该项目将整合生态系统科学、微生物生态学、分类学、遗传多样性以及地下、沉积物和土壤栖息地的养分循环等方面的知识，以解决微生物过程如何净化水和影响环境质量的问题。

For decades scientists have used classical methods in environmental science to characterize groundwater aquifers contaminated by hydrocarbons. Those methods, including measurements of the concentrations of organic chemical pollutants, other chemical conditions such as the acidity and oxygen content, and the physiological and genetic traits of microbial populations, have provided a rich characterization of polluted ground waters. However, such data do not take advantage of recent advances in molecular biology that have greatly expanded our ability to characterize the microbial organisms that are often critical to remediation efforts. In this project, the investigator, who since 1991 has studied a contaminated aquifer, will connect his data on that aquifer to recent data generated by advanced genomic methods in molecular biology. The molecular data of DNA and RNA sequences, will provide the researcher with an opportunity to explore the limits, frontiers, and pragmatic relationships between geochemical data and molecular characterizations of the microbial organisms and potentially discover how the metabolism of the microbial assemblages determines aquifer geochemistry. The researcher has studied both microbial and geochemical properties of a shallow aquifer near the Hudson River in South Glens Falls, NY, which is contaminated with naphthalene-rich coal-tar waste. This project is designed to gain new insights into the microbial biogeochemistry of the biodegradation of pollutant compounds. The overarching goal of this OPUS project is to merge previous geochemical and microbial data with recently-created DNA sequencing data, specifically omics information generated by a United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute microbial community sequencing project. The researcher will use statistical and other analytical procedures to discern new causal relationships between the dynamic microbiological and geochemical processes at this site. Information about key processes catalyzed in this subsurface site will deepen understanding about the composition and function of microorganisms dwelling in this study site and establish principles that can be transferred to other ecological settings. The project will integrate knowledge from ecosystem science, microbial ecology, taxonomy, and genetic diversity, and nutrient cycling in subsurface, sediment and soil habitats, to address how microbial processes purify water and influence environmental quality.