Phosphonates are a family of organophosphorus compounds characterized by the presence of a carbon- phosphorus bond. This bond provides greater chemical stability compared with analogous compounds containing the more reactive carbon-oxygen-phosphorus linkage (Quinn et al., 2007). Hence, it is important to consider their accumulation in the environment and possible toxic threat to ecosystems. This study explored the distribution ofphosphonate metabolic pathways among sequenced microorganisms and their prevalence and occurrence in the environmental metagenomic database using bioinformatic tools. Experiments carried out on a number of marine representative strains confirmed the capacity of their predicted phosphonate catabolic enzymes to utilize phosphonates for bacterial growth when supplied as phosphorus and to some extent, as nitrogen sources. The bacterium Roseovarius nubinhibens ISM was able to . produce methane through the aerobic degradation of methylphosphonate even in the presence of Pi concentrations up to 7.5mM. Also, this strain exhibited the unique characteristic of producing both polyhydroxybutyrate and polyphosphate concurrently as result of nutritional stress through either phosphorus or nitrogen limitation. Haloquadratum walsbyi was confirmed to be the only known archaeon to possess a phosphonate degradation pathway, and experiments confirmed the capability of this strain to consume phosphonates 2AEP, MPn and glyphosate as phosphorus sources.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:557849 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Villarreal-Chiu, J. F. |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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