TY - JOUR
T1 - Natural attenuation of Cr(VI) contamination in laboratory mesocosms
AU - Arias, Y. Meriah
AU - Obraztsova, Anna
AU - Tebo, Bradley M.
AU - Green-Ruiz, Carlos
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ron McConnaughey and Carolyn Sheehan for advice in the development of the mesocosm apparatus. We are also grateful to Andrea Clark, Katayoun Khorsandi, and Jennifer Fung for their help in all aspects of assembling the mesocosm apparatus and sampling. Y.M.A. was supported by a MARC Graduate Fellowship through the NIH and C.G.-R. was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship through CONACYT (Mexico) and UC-Mexus. This research was supported in part by Office of Naval Research grant N00014-99-1-0107 and the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program.
PY - 2003/7
Y1 - 2003/7
N2 - The processes leading to the natural attenuation of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in marine systems are not well understood. To determine the rate at which Cr(VI) could be reduced and the effect of Cr(VI) on bacterial communities in marine sediments, we performed mesocosm experiments with 37.85 Laquaria containing San Diego Bay sandy sediments and seawater. Constant levels of 0, 0.25 (low), and 1.5 mM (high) Cr(VI) were maintained in the water column for 2 months. Chemical analyses of sediment cores taken from the mesocosms indicated that Cr accumulated in the upper 5 mm of the sandy sediments. In general, the distribution of total Cr did not correlate with Fe, Mn, or total organic carbon. Enrichment cultures of metal (iron and chromium), and sulfate-reducing bacteria from the upper horizon (0-5 mm) of sediments were performed to look for the potential contributors in the detoxification/removal process. PCR of 16S rRNA genes and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to examine the microbial community structure in sediment depth profiles. When Cr(VI) was present, the number of DGGE bands decreased only in the upper 5 mm of sediments indicating an inhibition of certain bacterial populations and/or a selection for Cr-resistant bacteria in this region. Analysis of the DGGE bands was not especially helpful as most sequences were related to unknown, unidentified, or uncharacterized bacterial cloned sequences.
AB - The processes leading to the natural attenuation of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in marine systems are not well understood. To determine the rate at which Cr(VI) could be reduced and the effect of Cr(VI) on bacterial communities in marine sediments, we performed mesocosm experiments with 37.85 Laquaria containing San Diego Bay sandy sediments and seawater. Constant levels of 0, 0.25 (low), and 1.5 mM (high) Cr(VI) were maintained in the water column for 2 months. Chemical analyses of sediment cores taken from the mesocosms indicated that Cr accumulated in the upper 5 mm of the sandy sediments. In general, the distribution of total Cr did not correlate with Fe, Mn, or total organic carbon. Enrichment cultures of metal (iron and chromium), and sulfate-reducing bacteria from the upper horizon (0-5 mm) of sediments were performed to look for the potential contributors in the detoxification/removal process. PCR of 16S rRNA genes and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to examine the microbial community structure in sediment depth profiles. When Cr(VI) was present, the number of DGGE bands decreased only in the upper 5 mm of sediments indicating an inhibition of certain bacterial populations and/or a selection for Cr-resistant bacteria in this region. Analysis of the DGGE bands was not especially helpful as most sequences were related to unknown, unidentified, or uncharacterized bacterial cloned sequences.
KW - Hexavalent chromium reduction
KW - Marine sediments
KW - Metal analysis
KW - Metal-reducing bacteria
KW - Microbial community analysis
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U2 - 10.1080/01490450303902
DO - 10.1080/01490450303902
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0141558861
SN - 0149-0451
VL - 20
SP - 389
EP - 401
JO - Geomicrobiology Journal
JF - Geomicrobiology Journal
IS - 4
ER -