Quantifying Gene Expression to Predict and Optimize Reductive Dechlorination by Dehalococcoiides spp.

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

0504244 Alvarez-Cohen The proposed work would provide more insight into the role of multiple Dehalococcoides strains in dechlorination of chlorinated solvents by comparing measured 16S and expressed genes for known reductases. There would also be potential discovery of novel reductases. The plan also calls for study of a range of community structure from pure cultures of strain 195 to combinations of known cultures to well characterized mixed cultures to mixed cultures that have had relatively little characterization. These could reveal identities of synergistic species important to the ecology of Dehalococcoides populations. However, the latter result is probably the least likely. The intellectual merit of the project is strong and the broader impacts clearly articulated.