Title: Dynamic Succession of Groundwater Functional Microbial Communities in Response to Emulsified Vegetable Oil Amendment during Sustained In Situ U(VI) Reduction

Abstract

A pilot-scale field experiment demonstrated that a one-time amendment of emulsified vegetable oil (EVO) reduced groundwater U(VI) concentrations for 1 year in a fast-flowing aquifer. However, little is known about how EVO amendment stimulates the functional gene composition, structure, and dynamics of groundwater microbial communities toward prolonged U(VI) reduction. In this study, we hypothesized that EVO amendment would shift the functional gene composition and structure of groundwater microbial communities and stimulate key functional genes/groups involved in EVO biodegradation and reduction of electron acceptors in the aquifer. To test these hypotheses, groundwater microbial communities after EVO amendment were analyzed using a comprehensive functional gene microarray. Our results showed that EVO amendment stimulated sequential shifts in the functional composition and structure of groundwater microbial communities. Particularly, the relative abundance of key functional genes/groups involved in EVO biodegradation and the reduction of NO₃^-, Mn(IV), Fe(III), U(VI), and SO₄^2-significantly increased, especially during the active U(VI) reduction period. The relative abundance for some of these key functional genes/groups remained elevated over 9 months. Montel tests suggested that the dynamics in the abundance, composition, and structure of these key functional genes/groups were significantly correlated with groundwater concentrations of acetate, NO₃^-, Mn(II), Fe(II), U(VI), and SO₄^2-. Ourmore » results suggest that EVO amendment stimulated dynamic succession of key functional microbial communities. This study improves our understanding of the composition, structure, and function changes needed for groundwater microbial communities to sustain a long-term U(VI) reduction.« less

Authors:

Zhang, Ping ^[1]; Wu, Wei-Min ^[2]; Van Nostrand, Joy D. ^[1]; Deng, Ye ^[1]; He, Zhili ^[1]; Gihring, Thomas ^[3]; Zhang, Gengxin ^[3]; Schadt, Chris W. ^[3]; Watson, David ^[3]; Jardine, Phil ^[3]; Criddle, Craig S. ^[2]; Brooks, Scott ^[3]; Marsh, Terence L. ^[4]; Tiedje, James M. ^[4]; Arkin, Adam P. ^[5]; Zhou, Jizhong ^[6]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
4. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
6. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)

Publication Date:

Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2015

Research Org.:

Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

OSTI Identifier:

1394408

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1511425

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231; FG02-07ER64398

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 81; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 0099-2240

Publisher:

American Society for Microbiology

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES