Molecular biological enhancement of coal biodesulfurization

Technical Report · Fri Dec 14 00:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6222547

Litchfield, J H; Fry, I; Wyza, R E; Palmer, D T; Zupancic, T J; Conkle, H N ^[1]; Delgado, O; Tuovinen, O H ^[2]

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1. Battelle, Columbus, OH (USA)
2. Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (USA)

The following work was accomplished during the Sixth Quarterly Report period in the investigation of the microbial-mediated release of sulfur from coal as viable industrial process for coal desulfurization: Analysis of the carbon source utilization profile by strain C-18 using the Microlog 2N system indicated that this strain was not among the more than 400 bacteria included in this data base. A gradient elution HPLC system developed for separating 4S metabolites gave good resolution of 4S standards except for o,o'-biphenol and o-phenylphenol. The pC18L cosmid library purified by cesium chloride-ethidium bromide density gradient equilibrium centrifugation could be inserted by electroporation into Escherichia coli HB101 to give clones on the order of 10{sup 6} transformants/{mu}g DNA. However, no clones were obtained after electroporation of this preparation with Pseudomonas putida ATCC 33015. Electroporation of the HB101-packaged pC18L (cesium banded) cosmid library into P. putida ATCC 33015 resulted in very low transformation rates. Apparently, the presence of the Tol plasmid in the 33015 strain interfered with this electrotransformation. Battelle bacterial isolates obtained from fuel-contaminated soil showed evidence for utilizing a variety of organosulfonate and organosulfone compounds as sole sulfur sources. Further confirmatory experiments are planned. Antibiotic and metal sensitivity and resistance evaluation of T. ferrooxidans strains have led to the identification of one mercury-resistent strain (DSM 5083) and one selenite-sensitive strain (TFI 85). Plasmid and chromosomal DNA have been prepared from T. ferrooxidans strains. One plasmid, pTFI 91, is being mapped. 4 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs.

• Research Organization: Battelle, Columbus, OH (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/FE
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-89PC89902
• OSTI ID: 6222547
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/89902-T3; ON: DE91007435
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
COAL
DESULFURIZATION
ESCHERICHIA COLI
GENES
DNA-CLONING
THIOBACILLUS FERROXIDANS
ANTIBIOTICS
BIODEGRADATION
METABOLITES
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PLASMIDS
PROGRESS REPORT
PSEUDOMONAS
SULFUR CONTENT
ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS
BACILLUS
BACTERIA
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CELL CONSTITUENTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLONING
DECOMPOSITION
DNA HYBRIDIZATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
DRUGS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYBRIDIZATION
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SULFUR-OXIDIZING BACTERIA
010402* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Purification & Upgrading
550700 - Microbiology
550400 - Genetics