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The effect of bacterial growth strategies on plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation for bioremediation.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Varner, PM; Allemann, MN; Michener, JK; Gunsch, CK
Published in: Environmental technology & innovation
November 2022

Mobilizable plasmids are extra-chromosomal, circular DNA that have contributed to the rapid evolution of bacterial genomes and have been used in environmental, biotechnological, and medicinal applications. Degradative plasmids with genetic capabilities to degrade organic contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), have the potential to be useful for more environmentally friendly and cost-effective remediation technologies compared to existing physical remediation methods. Genetic bioaugmentation, the addition of catabolic genes into well-adapted communities via plasmid transfer (conjugation), is being explored as a remediation approach that is sustainable and long-lasting. Here, we explored the effect of the ecological growth strategies of plasmid donors and recipients on conjugation and naphthalene degradation of two PAH-degrading plasmids, pNL1 and NAH7. Overall, both pNL1 and NAH7 showed conjugation preferences towards a slow-growing ecological growth strategy, except when NAH7 was in a mixed synthetic community. These conjugation preferences were partially described by a combination of growth strategy, GC content, and phylogenetic relatedness. Further, removal of naphthalene via plasmid-mediated degradation was consistently higher in a community consisting of recipients with a slow-growing ecological growth strategy compared to a mixed community or a community consisting of fast-growing ecological growth strategy. Understanding plasmid conjugation and degradative preferences has the capacity to influence future remediation technology design and has broad implications in biomedical, environmental, and health fields.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Environmental technology & innovation

EISSN

2352-1864

ISSN

2352-1864

Publication Date

November 2022

Volume

28

Start / End Page

102910

Related Subject Headings

  • 1002 Environmental Biotechnology
  • 0907 Environmental Engineering
  • 0502 Environmental Science and Management
 

Citation

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Varner, P. M., Allemann, M. N., Michener, J. K., & Gunsch, C. K. (2022). The effect of bacterial growth strategies on plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation for bioremediation. Environmental Technology & Innovation, 28, 102910.
Varner, Paige M., Marco N. Allemann, Joshua K. Michener, and Claudia K. Gunsch. “The effect of bacterial growth strategies on plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation for bioremediation.Environmental Technology & Innovation 28 (November 2022): 102910.
Varner PM, Allemann MN, Michener JK, Gunsch CK. The effect of bacterial growth strategies on plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation for bioremediation. Environmental technology & innovation. 2022 Nov;28:102910.
Varner, Paige M., et al. “The effect of bacterial growth strategies on plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation for bioremediation.Environmental Technology & Innovation, vol. 28, Nov. 2022, p. 102910.
Varner PM, Allemann MN, Michener JK, Gunsch CK. The effect of bacterial growth strategies on plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation for bioremediation. Environmental technology & innovation. 2022 Nov;28:102910.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental technology & innovation

EISSN

2352-1864

ISSN

2352-1864

Publication Date

November 2022

Volume

28

Start / End Page

102910

Related Subject Headings

  • 1002 Environmental Biotechnology
  • 0907 Environmental Engineering
  • 0502 Environmental Science and Management