Developing a microbial community structure index (MCSI) as an approach to evaluate and optimize bioremediation performance.

Much attention is placed on organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB), such as Dehalococcoides, during the design and performance monitoring of chlorinated solvent bioremediation systems. However, many OHRB cannot function effectively without the support of a diverse group of other microbial community members (MCMs), who play key roles fermenting organic matter into more readily useable electron donors, producing corrinoids such as vitamin B12, or facilitating other important metabolic processes or biochemical reactions. While it is known that certain MCMs support dechlorination, a metric considering their contribution to bioremediation performance has yet to be proposed.

Effect of biostimulation and bioaugmentation on biodegradation of high concentrations of 1,4-dioxane.

1,4-Dioxane is a pervasive and persistent contaminant in numerous aquifers. Although the median concentration in most contaminant plumes is in the microgram per liter range, a subset of sites have contamination in the milligram per liter range. Most prior studies that have examined 1,4-dioxane concentrations in the hundreds of milligrams per liter range have been performed with industrial wastewater.

Vault packaged enzyme mediated degradation of amino-aromatic energetic compounds.

Amino-aromatic compounds, 2-amino-4-nitrotoluene (ANT), and 2,4-diaminotoluene (DAT) are carcinogens and environmentally persistent pollutants. In this study, we investigated their degradation by natural manganese peroxidase (nMnP) derived from Phanerochaete chrysosporium and recombinant manganese peroxidase packaged in vaults (vMnP). Encapsulation of manganese peroxidase (MnP) in ribonucleoprotein nanoparticle cages, called vaults, was achieved by creating recombinant vaults in yeast Pichia pastoris.

Evaluating the effects of gross nitrogen mineralization, immobilization, and nitrification on nitrogen fertilizer availability in soil experimentally contaminated with diesel.

Sandy clay loam soil was contaminated with 5000 mg kg(-1) diesel, and amended with nitrogen (15.98 atom% (15)N) at 0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg kg(-1) to determine gross rates of nitrogen transformations during diesel biodegradation at varying soil water potentials. The observed water potential values were -0.