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

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

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.