Effectiveness of Permeable Reactive Bio-Barriers for Bioremediation of an Organohalide-Polluted Aquifer by Natural-Occurring Microbial Community

In this study, a bioremediation approach was evaluated for the decontamination of an aquifer affected by the release of organohalides by an industrial landfill. After preliminary physicochemical and microbiological characterization of the landfill groundwater, the stimulation of natural organohalide respiration by the addition of a reducing substrate (i.e., molasse) was tested both at microcosm and at field scales, by the placement of an anaerobic permeable reactive bio-barrier. Illumina sequencing of cDNA 16S rRNA gene revealed that organohalide-respiring bacteria of genera Geobacter, Sulfurospirillum, Dehalococcoides, Clostridium and Shewanella were present within the aquifer microbial community, along with fermentative Firmicutes and Parvarchaeota. Microcosm experiments confirmed the presence of an active natural attenuation, which was boosted by the addition of the reducing substrate. Field tests showed that the bio-barrier decreased the concentration of chloroethenes at a rate of 23.74 kg d−1. Monitoring of organohalide respiration biomarkers by qPCR and Illumina sequencing revealed that native microbial populations were involved in the dechlorination process, although their specific role still needs to be clarified. The accumulation of lower-chloroethenes suggested the need of future improvement of the present approach by supporting bacterial vinyl-chloride oxidation, to achieve a complete degradation of chloroethenes.

Substrate-dependent competition and cooperation relationships between Geobacter and Dehalococcoides for their organohalide respiration

Obligate and non-obligate organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB) play central roles in the geochemical cycling and environmental bioremediation of organohalides. Their coexistence and interactions may provide functional redundancy and community stability to assure organohalide respiration efficiency but, at the same time, complicate isolation and characterization of specific OHRB. Here, we employed a growth rate/yield tradeoff strategy to enrich and isolate a rare non-obligate tetrachloroethene (PCE)-respiring Geobacter from a Dehalococcoides-predominant microcosm, providing experimental evidence for the rate/yield tradeoff theory in population selection. Surprisingly, further physiological and genomic characterizations, together with co-culture experiments, revealed three unique interactions (i.e., free competition, conditional competition and syntrophic cooperation) between Geobacter and Dehalococcoides for their respiration of PCE and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), depending on both the feeding electron donors (acetate/H2 vs. propionate) and electron acceptors (PCE vs. PCBs). This study provides the first insight into substrate-dependent interactions between obligate and non-obligate OHRB, as well as a new strategy to isolate fastidious microorganisms, for better understanding of the geochemical cycling and bioremediation of organohalides.

Changes of the Proteome and Acetylome during Transition into the Stationary Phase in the Organohalide-Respiring Dehalococcoides mccartyi Strain CBDB1

The strictly anaerobic bactGIerium Dehalococcoides mccartyi obligatorily depends on organohalide respiration for energy conservation and growth. The bacterium also plays an important role in bioremediation. Since there is no guarantee of a continuous supply of halogenated substrates in its natural environment, the question arises of how D. mccartyi maintains the synthesis and activity of dehalogenating enzymes under these conditions. Acetylation is a means by which energy-restricted microorganisms can modulate and maintain protein levels and their functionality. Here, we analyzed the proteome and Nε-lysine acetylome of D. mccartyi strain CBDB1 during growth with 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene as an electron acceptor. The high abundance of the membrane-localized organohalide respiration complex, consisting of the reductive dehalogenases CbrA and CbdbA80, the uptake hydrogenase HupLS, and the organohalide respiration-associated molybdoenzyme OmeA, was shown throughout growth. In addition, the number of acetylated proteins increased from 5% to 11% during the transition from the exponential to the stationary phase. Acetylation of the key proteins of central acetate metabolism and of CbrA, CbdbA80, and TatA, a component of the twin-arginine translocation machinery, suggests that acetylation might contribute to maintenance of the organohalide-respiring capacity of the bacterium during the stationary phase, thus providing a means of ensuring membrane protein integrity and a proton gradient.

Organohalide respiring bacteria at the heart of anaerobic metabolism in Arctic wet tundra soils

Recent work revealed an active biological chlorine cycle in coastal Arctic tundra of northern Alaska. This raised the question whether chlorine cycling was restricted to coastal areas, or if these processes extended to inland tundra. The anaerobic process of organohalide respiration, carried out by specialized bacteria like Dehalococcoides, consumes hydrogen gas and acetate using halogenated organic compounds as terminal electron acceptors, potentially competing with methanogens that produce the greenhouse gas, methane. We measured microbial community composition and soil chemistry along a ~262 km coastal-inland transect to test for the potential of organohalide respiration across the Arctic Coastal Plain, and studied the microbial community associated with Dehalococcoides to explore the ecology of this group and its potential to impact C cycling in the Arctic. Brominated organic compounds declined sharply with distance from the coast, but decrease in organic chlorine pools was more subtle. The relative abundance of Dehalococcoides was similar across the transect, except being lower at the most inland site. Dehalococcoides correlated with other strictly anaerobic genera, plus some facultative ones, that had the genetic potential to provide essential resources (hydrogen, acetate, corrinoids, or organic chlorine). This community included iron reducers, sulfate reducers, syntrophic bacteria, acetogens and methanogens, some of which might also compete with Dehalococcoides for hydrogen and acetate. Throughout the Arctic Coastal Plain, Dehalococcoides is associated with the dominant anaerobes that control fluxes of hydrogen, acetate, methane and carbon dioxide. Depending on seasonal electron acceptor availability, organohalide respiring bacteria could impact carbon cycling in Arctic wet tundra soils. Importance: Once considered relevant only in contaminated sites, it is now recognized that biological chlorine cycling is widespread in natural environments. However, linkages between chlorine cycling and other ecosystem processes are not well established. Species in the genus Dehalococcoides are highly specialized, using hydrogen, acetate, vitamin B12-like compounds and organic chlorine produced by the surrounding community. We studied which neighbors might produce these essential resources for Dehalococcoides species. We found that Dehalococcoides are ubiquitous across the Arctic Coastal Plain and are closely associated with a network of microbes that produce or consume hydrogen or acetate, including the most abundant anaerobic bacteria and methanogenic archaea. We also found organic chlorine and microbes that can produce these compounds throughout the study area. Therefore, Dehalococcoides could control the balance between carbon dioxide and methane (a more potent greenhouse gas) when suitable organic chlorine compounds are available to drive hydrogen and acetate uptake.

Catabolic Reductive Dehalogenase Substrate Complex Structures Underpin Rational Repurposing of Substrate Scope

Reductive dehalogenases are responsible for the reductive cleavage of carbon-halogen bonds during organohalide respiration. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed for these cobalamin and [4Fe-4S] containing enzymes, including organocobalt, radical, or cobalt-halide adduct based catalysis. The latter was proposed for the oxygen-tolerant Nitratireductor pacificus pht-3B catabolic reductive dehalogenase (NpRdhA). Here, we present the first substrate bound NpRdhA crystal structures, confirming a direct cobalt–halogen interaction is established and providing a rationale for substrate preference. Product formation is observed in crystallo due to X-ray photoreduction. Protein engineering enables rational alteration of substrate preference, providing a future blue print for the application of this and related enzymes in bioremediation.

Transcriptomic and Proteomic Responses of the Organohalide-Respiring Bacterium Desulfoluna spongiiphila to Growth with 2,6-Dibromophenol as the Electron Acceptor

ABSTRACT Organohalide respiration is an important process in the global halogen cycle and for bioremediation. In this study, we compared the global transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of Desulfoluna spongiiphila strain AA1, an organohalide-respiring member of the Desulfobacterota isolated from a marine sponge, with 2,6-dibromophenol or with sulfate as an electron acceptor. The most significant difference of the transcriptomic analysis was the expression of one reductive dehalogenase gene cluster (rdh16), which was significantly upregulated with the addition of 2,6-dibromophenol. The corresponding protein, reductive dehalogenase RdhA16032, was detected in the proteome under treatment with 2,6-dibromophenol but not with sulfate only. There was no significant difference in corrinoid biosynthesis gene expression levels between the two treatments, indicating that the production of corrinoid in D. spongiiphila is constitutive or not specific for organohalide versus sulfate respiration. Electron-transporting proteins or mediators unique for reductive dehalogenation were not revealed in our analysis, and we hypothesize that reductive dehalogenation may share an electron-transporting system with sulfate reduction. The metabolism of D. spongiiphila, predicted from transcriptomic and proteomic results, demonstrates high metabolic versatility and provides insights into the survival strategies of a marine sponge symbiont in an environment rich in organohalide compounds and other secondary metabolites. IMPORTANCE Respiratory reductive dehalogenation is an important process in the overall cycling of both anthropogenic and natural organohalide compounds. Marine sponges produce a vast array of bioactive compounds as secondary metabolites, including diverse halogenated compounds that may enrich for dehalogenating bacteria. Desulfoluna spongiiphila strain AA1 was originally enriched and isolated from the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba and can grow with both brominated compounds and sulfate as electron acceptors for respiration. An understanding of the overall gene expression and the protein production profile in response to organohalides is needed to identify the full complement of genes or enzymes involved in organohalide respiration. Elucidating the metabolic capacity of this sponge-associated bacterium lays the foundation for understanding how dehalogenating bacteria may control the fate of organohalide compounds in sponges and their role in a symbiotic organobromine cycle.