Project Details
Projekt
Mechanisms and microorganisms involved in degradation of BTEX and PAH under methanogenic conditions
Applicant
Dr. Martin Krüger
Subject Area
Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
Term
from 2009 to 2016
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 71718786
A set of enrichment cultures, able to degrade different oils, coals or single hydrocarbons under methanogenic conditions, has been obtained during the first two years of project KR 3311/6-1. Laboratory mesocosm as well as high pressure autoclave experiments confirmed that methanogenesis from hydrocarbons takes place under a broad range of environmental conditions. The analysis of the responsible methanogenic consortia via qPCR, T-RFLP and cloning showed as common feature the presence of acetogens, SRP and Geobacter species in all enrichment cultures, independent of their geological origin or the hydrocarbon applied. In the proposed project, a subset of 3-5 enrichments on BTEX or PAH will be characterised molecularbiologically and biochemically to determine enzymatic pathways, hydrocarbon activation mechanisms and the individual role of each partner. Stable isotope probing will be used together with T-RFLP, cloning and amplicon pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA and functional genes, and metagenomic and –proteomic approaches. Samples from oil and coal reservoirs will be analysed to see, whether the key players identified in vitro are also relevant in situ. Already, a network of interdisciplinary cooperations has been established within the SSP. In the now proposed project these will be continued and expanded to integrate biochemists and physiologists, which in turn will benefit from the available enrichment cultures and from our expertise in biogeochemistry, in situ studies and cultivation of anaerobic hydrocarbon degraders.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
