title: Exploiting the intrinsic microbial degradative potential for field-based in situ dechlorination of trichloroethene contaminated groundwater.
abstract: Bioremediation of trichloroethene (TCE) polluted groundwater is challenging, with limited next generation sequencing (NGS) derived information available on microbial community dynamics associated with dechlorination. Understanding these dynamics is important for designing and improving TCE bioremediation. In this study, biostimulation (BS), biostimulation-bioaugmentation (BS-BA) and monitored natural attenuation (MNA) approaches were applied to contaminated groundwater wells resulted in ≥ 95% dechlorination within 7 months. Vinyl chloride's final concentrations in stimulated wells were between 1.84 and 1.87 μg L(-1), below the US EPA limit of 2.0 μg L(-1), compared to MNA (4.3 μg L(-1)). Assessment of the groundwater microbial community with qPCR showed up to ∼ 50-fold increase in the classical dechlorinators' (Geobacter and Dehalococcoides sp.) population post-treatment. Metagenomic assays revealed shifts from Gammaproteobacteria (pre-treatment) to Epsilonproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria (post-treatment) only in stimulated wells. Although stimulated wells were functionally distinct from MNA wells post-treatment, substantial dechlorination in all the wells implied some measure of redundancy. This study, one of the few NGS-based field studies on TCE bioremediation, provides greater insights into dechlorinating microbial community dynamics which should be useful for future field-based studies.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Adetutu
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia. Electronic address: taylor.gundry@rmit.edu.au.
authors.forename: Taylor D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Gundry
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia.
authors.forename: Sayali S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
authors.forename: Aida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golneshin
authors.affiliation: GeneDX, 207 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA.
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adigun
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bhaskarla
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aleer
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
authors.forename: Esmaeil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shahsavari
authors.affiliation: The University of Melbourne, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Melbourne, VIC 3083, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ball
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D060587:Groundwater / Q000382:microbiology; D014241:Trichloroethylene / Q000378:metabolism*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014241:Trichloroethylene
keywords: Bioremediation; Groundwater; Metagenomics; Quantitative PCR; Trichloroethene