In situ bioremediation by Fe(III) reducers is a strategy for clean-up of ground water through reductive immobilization. The dynamics of the community involved is complex and needs to be understood better for improving the bioremediation. Here, we have created a dynamic genome-scale metabolic model of Geobacter sulfurreducens and Rhodoferax ferrireducens, the two primary iron-reducers in subsurface environments, in order to understand the community competition prior to and during uranium- bioremediation. The simulation results suggest that the community competition is modulated by two factors: the ability of G. sulfurreducens to fix nitrogen under ammonium limitation, and a rate vs. yield trade-off between these two organisms. This model will be an important tool for the analyses of more complex microbial communities and the design of effective uranium-bioremediation strategies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/29990 |
| Date | 16 September 2011 |
| Creators | Zhuang, Kai |
| Contributors | Radhakrishna, Mahadevan |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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