Targeted detection of Dehalococcoides mccartyi microbial protein biomarkers as indicators of reductive dechlorination activity in contaminated groundwater

Dehalococcoides mccartyi (Dhc) bacterial strains expressing active reductive dehalogenase (RDase) enzymes play key roles in the transformation and detoxification of chlorinated pollutants, including chlorinated ethenes. Site monitoring regimes traditionally rely on qPCR to assess the presence of Dhc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-07, Vol.9 (1), p.10604-11, Article 10604
Main Authors: Solis, Manuel I Villalobos, Abraham, Paul E, Chourey, Karuna, Swift, Cynthia M, Löffler, Frank E, Hettich, Robert L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacterial Proteins - analysis
BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Biodegradation, Environmental
Biomarkers
Biomarkers - analysis
Chloroflexi - chemistry
Chloroflexi - enzymology
Chloroflexi - metabolism
Dechlorination
Dehalococcoides
Detoxification
Ethene
Genetic transformation
Groundwater
Groundwater - chemistry
Groundwater - microbiology
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - metabolism
Peptides
Pollutants
Proteomics
Strains (organisms)
Structural proteins
Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism
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Summary:Dehalococcoides mccartyi (Dhc) bacterial strains expressing active reductive dehalogenase (RDase) enzymes play key roles in the transformation and detoxification of chlorinated pollutants, including chlorinated ethenes. Site monitoring regimes traditionally rely on qPCR to assess the presence of Dhc biomarker genes; however, this technique alone cannot directly inform about dechlorination activity. To supplement gene-centric approaches and provide a more reliable proxy for dechlorination activity, we sought to demonstrate a targeted proteomics approach that can characterize Dhc mediated dechlorination in groundwater contaminated with chlorinated ethenes. Targeted peptide selection was conducted in axenic cultures of Dhc strains 195, FL2, and BAV1. These experiments yielded 37 peptides from housekeeping and structural proteins (i.e., GroEL, EF-TU, rpL7/L2 and the S-layer), as well as proteins involved in the reductive dechlorination activity (i.e., FdhA, TceA, and BvcA). The application of targeted proteomics to a defined bacterial consortium and contaminated groundwater samples resulted in the detection of FdhA peptides, which revealed active dechlorination with Dhc strain-level resolution, and the detection of RDases peptides indicating specific reductive dechlorination steps. The results presented here show that targeted proteomics can be applied to groundwater samples and provide protein level information about Dhc dechlorination activity.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-46901-6