Publications by Colleges and Departments (MSU - Bozeman)

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    Selenate bioreduction in a large in situ field trial
    (Elsevier BV, 2024-04) Hendry, M. Jim; Kirk, Lisa; Warner, Jeff; Shaw, Shannon; Peyton, Brent M.; Schmeling, Erin; Barbour, S. Lee
    Removing selenium (Se) from mine effluent is a common challenge. A long-term, in situ experiment was conducted to bioremediate large volumes (up to 7500 mc d−1) of Se(VI)-contaminated water (mean 87 μg L−1) by injecting the water into a saturated waste rock fill (SRF) at a coal mining operation in Elk Valley, British Columbia, Canada. To stimulate/maintain biofilm growth in the SRF, labile organic carbon (methanol) and nutrients were added to the water prior to its injection. A conservative tracer (Br−) was also added to track the migration of injected water across the SRF, identify wells with minimal dilution and used to quantify the extent of bioreduction. The evolution of the Se species through the SRF was monitored in time and space for 201 d. Selenium concentrations of <3.8 μg L−1 were attained in monitoring wells located 38 m from the injection wells after 114 to 141 d of operation. Concentrations of Se species in water samples from complementary long-term (351–498 d) column experiments using influent Se(VI) concentrations of 1.0 mg L−1 were consistent with the results of the in situ experiment. Solid samples collected at the completion of the column experiments confirmed the presence of indigenous Se-reducing bacteria and that the sequestered Se was present as insoluble Se(0), likely in Se-S ring compounds. Based on the success of this ongoing bioremediation experiment, this technology is being applied at other mine sites.
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    Microbial Community Response to Polysaccharide Amendment in Anoxic Hydrothermal Sediments of the Guaymas Basin
    (Frontiers Media SA, 2021-12) Krukenberg, Viola; Reichart, Nicholas J.; Lange Spietz, Rachel K.; Hatzenpichler, Roland
    Organic-rich, hydrothermal sediments of the Guaymas Basin are inhabited by diverse microbial communities including many uncultured lineages with unknown metabolic potential. Here we investigated the short-term effect of polysaccharide amendment on a sediment microbial community to identify taxa involved in the initial stage of macromolecule degradation. We incubated anoxic sediment with cellulose, chitin, laminarin, and starch and analyzed the total and active microbial communities using bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) combined with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Our results show a response of an initially minor but diverse population of Clostridia particularly after amendment with the lower molecular weight polymers starch and laminarin. Thus, Clostridia may readily become key contributors to the heterotrophic community in Guaymas Basin sediments when substrate availability and temperature range permit their metabolic activity and growth, which expands our appreciation of the potential diversity and niche differentiation of heterotrophs in hydrothermally influenced sediments. BONCAT-FACS, although challenging in its application to complex samples, detected metabolic responses prior to growth and thus can provide complementary insight into a microbial community’s metabolic potential and succession pattern. As a primary application of BONCAT-FACS on a diverse deep-sea sediment community, our study highlights important considerations and demonstrates inherent limitations associated with this experimental approach.
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